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C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

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Halloween with Two & Twenty Dark Tales at Keplers

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Book Event

(If you have a book event with pictures, send them to me and I’ll post them on Thursdays.)



Two and Twenty Dark Tales made a darkly interesting appearance at Kepler’s Bookstore the day before Halloween. Each story is a “dark” retelling of a Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme. Here’s some of the authors who have stories in that anthology and some who appeared with their own books.

L to R: Me, Heidi R. Kling, Ingrid Paulson, Pamela van Hylckama Vlieg, Corrine Jackson & Tamara Ireland Stone
Bookalicious Pam signs her story, A Pocket Full of Posey. (Ring Around the Roses) 

Heidi R. Kling signs her story, Life in a Shoe. (The Old Woman Who Live in a Shoe)

New Books 

(If you have a new book out, send me a link & I’ll be glad to post on Thursdays.)

Her Grammarness 

I’ve been trying to stay out of the grammar issues ever since I started to blog, but I’ve decided to put my Prescriptive Hat back on (Look left.) I’m reading a lot of books that are driving me crazy with common grammar errors. Maybe it’s me, but seeing a book published with poor English grammar rattles this linguistic heart something fierce . . . and I’ve always leaned to describing rather than prescribing. That’s changed.  The “usage is king” has to move over and let the queen have her say. William Safire once wrote that as a linguistic activist he was “willing to struggle to conserve the clarity and color in the language.” Me too! And let’s start with that old lie/lay verb that means to recline or to put/place something. 
In the past month I’ve tried to read two books whose authors can’t get those straight. What’s so hard about them and where were their editors–lying down on the job?
People lie down to rest.
Hen lay eggs in their nests.
If you or the hen is putting or placing something, you use lay. If you or the hen are tired and want to take a nap, you use lie.
That’s the simplest way to lay it out. Now I’m going to lie down. 
Next week: rise/raise 

Comments

  1. The pics make it look like it was a great time!

    Grammar errors in novels make me twitch too – and I also wonder where the editors are!

  4. A good editor is worth the cost. I could never go it alone. Formatting can be a crazy issue with Kindle that can drive anyone crazy, but that's another story for another day.

  5. I used to have issues with lie and lay years ago until I learned the difference. Now it irks me when I see mistakes with them.

    Fun pictures. What a great group signing.

  8. Hi Lee .. preserving good grammar in this day and age is going to be challenging … on the other hand someone sometime has to write the rules and regulations of life – and if they are not right, nor thought through properly we're in for a rough road ahead. Texting doesn't help .. is it texting – or????

    Love the Halloween stories and those photos … looks a fun event .. cheers Hilary

  14. The book event looks like SO much fun! I wish I could have gone.

    Thanks for the grammar tip! I love to be reminded of grammar rules- so I will be looking forward to your tips each week.
    ~Jess

  15. Glad you had a good time at the book event! Cute photos too! Now I'm afraid to go back and check any of my stories that have lay or lie in them! I won't lie, as I do enjoy to lie down. Does that make me a layabout? The answer lay ahead?! Thanks for making learning fun Lee, and welcome back! Julie

  16. Haha! Love this website! It made me smile before I even found your blog!

    Yep, I'm all for keeping it simple as far as language is concerned. It's all about word choice. Which can be tricky when your heroine's name is Rose. Hmm….

  19. Those book events look like great fun. I like your new hair color, Lee! Looks great. No bad hair days with the color change – yay! Thanks so much for the shout out!

  22. Understand that, Christine because. That's what I meant about "usage being king." We hear "Lay down." all the time. Can't whip out my red pen and circle conversation, can I? 🙂

  26. Haha! Every time I go to write lie/lay, I check the Internet first just to make sure I have it right. There are some great rules out there to help you remember. Two of my pet peeve words are farther/further. no one seems to know the difference. Farther is for actual distance and further is for everything else.

  30. The author of Missed Periods and other Grammar Scares did a funny post about the misuse of lie/lay on my blog once. It is so commonly misused!
    Love the Halloween photos! I love creepy retellings. Sounds like a great book! I read a wip of mine to my son's second grade class of Halloween nursery rhymes. They loved it!