Abuser of Semicolons

Let’s face it, semicolons are confusing. They are easy enough to use in separating email addresses, or tags, but otherwise not so much. At least for me. Semicolons are tough; I struggle to this day.

In the final draft of Fire, I had sixteen semicolons. For a 100,000-word book, that’s not a lot. Certainly not excessive. None survived the copy editor and proofreaders. Zero. 

O for 16. That’s almost as bad as Jose Altuve’s 0 for 26 2022 postseason skid. In fairness to ‘tuve, he broke his skid. Had I written another 100,000 words, I might have ended up 0 for 32.

Here are the rules, at least according to Northern Illinois University:

• Semicolons join ideas that are related and equal in grammatical structure.
• Use a semicolon to join two related independent clauses in place of a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet). Make sure when you use the semicolon that the connection between the two independent clauses is clear without the coordinating conjunction.
• Use a semicolon to replace a period between related sentences when the second sentence starts with either a conjunctive adverb or a transitional expression, such as for example, for instance, that is, besides, accordingly, furthermore, otherwise, however, thus, therefore.

There are more, but since the last one lost me, I lost interest. Something about conjunctive adverbs and transitional stuff. I think I’ll just swear off semicolons; as a form of punctuation, semicolons are now dead to me.

I did find a thought that I found easier to understand.

With Fire now complete and available to readers here, I’m hitting the eRoad for promotion. That, and completing the novella.

First up will be another visit with Bonnie D. Graham. I was on her show last year and was very surprised by her facility with handling a group of guests. She had four of us on, including Carol Novello, whose career and book, Mutual Rescue, so enthralled me that I reviewed it and interviewed her here.

January 11^th, it’ll be a bigger group and she’s asking for more predictions. I’ve been mulling over a few. Be sure to tune in here to catch it live.