Thursday – A little Personal

~ John W. Howell

Commas

Hi. My name is John, and it has been over four weeks since I last eliminated a comma from my writing.

This statement may sound like something I would say at a comma avoidance anonymous meeting. I don’t mean to keep eliminating commas, and I think it just might be a disease or something.

I tell ya, I try to not avoid commas. I work hard at not avoiding the use of commas and then before I know it I avoid one comma, and I’m right back to where I started. It escalates into a nightmare of avoiding comma’s until I’m in a position where I don’t remember how to use a comma at all.

When I get to this point, I know its time to go back into comma rehab. There are some excellent facilities around the country where you can find peace while you overcome your comma avoidance addiction. The best part is that the institutions tend to keep you away from the critical evaluations of those who notice missing commas.

Of course, within yourself, one has the capability to decide if the comma avoidance addition is going to control one’s life or one is going to control it.

So, I will keep trying to stay ahead of the addiction and keep the  comma avoidance prayer in my mind. God help me control the commas I can control, forget those I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference.

70 thoughts on “Thursday – A little Personal”

  1. Commas were drilled into me long ago, but I’ve become a little lax over the years. Part of it is because it seems everyone has their own idea of when to use them. I’ve had people tell me I use too many commas, but I was taught that they show up when you would naturally pause within a sentence. That’s the tip I keep using while editing.

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  2. Ha, this is funny John! I think most of us struggle with commas, trying to figure out where they should be & where they shouldn’t. Regardless, I shall continue to read your blog, comma addition be damned!

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  5. It’s famine or feast with me and commas as well – often in same writing session! Which is why I always edit the day after I’ve been in ‘splurge-mode’. Same with em-dashes and ellipsis(es?)… I think I have a really bad case of punctuation overload/overthink!
    Thank goodness for exclamation marks!!!! 😉

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  9. You made my day, fine sir. A 12 step program for commas. Now, tell me is there a bootcamp somewhere for folks who have no clue where to put semicolons? Signed, Desperate in the foothills.

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  12. LOL, I remember your love/hate relationship with commas. Punctuation helps prevent global destruction. A coworker once sent me an email, “Next time come to me with a question not a problem.” Excuse me? He was the one who was supposed to help with that kind of problem. An hour later (when my temper was finally under control)… I went to him and asked about the email.
    What he meant was, “Next time come to me with a question. Not a problem.”
    😀 Have a thriving Thursday. Mega hugs.

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  17. I wrote once about the conservation of punctuation. My wife edits my posts and inserts as many commas as she removes from bad places. I clearly don’t know how commas work. Great post.

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  18. Pingback: Thursday – A little Personal | Kim's Author Support Blog

  22. I try to remember all the rules but there are so many. It’s hard, so very hard. Now I have my friend Grammarly to help me. I suspect some of the rules have changed since I first learned them. They’re sneaky that way. 😀 — Suzanne

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