Failed Experiments #273: A newsletter without exclamation points
Hello, and Happy December.
I have a somber mission on this fine Tuesday: To write a newsletter entirely without exclamation points. To convey my thoughts and feelings—somehow—through words alone. Or at least without my beloved [!] which I've come to rely on too heavily.
We saw Ricky's mom at Thanksgiving, and I brought her a birthday present, Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, by Mary Norris, long-time copy editor for The New Yorker. I inscribed it something like: "Happy Birthday, Joy. I'm so lucky to have a mother-in-law who appreciates grammar!" Because how could I convey my great enthusiasm without the [!] ?
And then: "Thank you for instilling that same appreciation in Ricky." I gave that sentence a period, but when I read it over it seemed flat. So I added TWO EXCLAMATION POINTS. "Thank you for instilling that same appreciation in Ricky!!"
Oy.
It's mostly a woman thing, I think, this fear-of-conveying-the-wrong-tone. Fear-of-sounding-unfriendly (or terse). Desire to come across as CHIPPER!
When asked about exclamation marks in this Guardian interview, Mary Norris says, "They should be used conservatively. Elmore Leonard said there should be no more than two or three per 100,000 words. I think it should be two or three in a lifetime."
But even Mary plays fast and loose with the [!] when she's on Twitter.
I use a lot of [!]'s when I'm writing dialogue. To exclaim, yes, but also to convey over-eagerness, anxiety, false bravado. (In female and male characters, thankyouverymuch.) I think I think I'm doing that when I use them in casual writing. The exclamation points are intended to be taken in quotes, like, "Look how silly I am!" "I'm emoting!" "I mean this, but I don't really mean this!!!"
Hrmmm. I do love them.
But next time I'll stop and take a deep breath before I ink three in a row.
*****
On the writing front: I'm still hacking away at the fourth draft of Love the Blue, a draft I'd hoped to have finished by mid-October. Tempted to add a "Ha!" here (false bravado) but I'm reining myself in.
One bit of feedback I got was that the script needed more of a twist ending, which at first made me bristle. But after stepping away for a few weeks, I realized, Ohhhhh. The ending just isn't working.
I'm coming at it from a new angle, and I'm not entirely sure where it's headed at the moment. Or when it will be done.
*****
This month in beauty: The air in LA is so dry, I've started taking a fish oil supplement to combat the scaly patches on my face. I'll let you know if it helps....
This month in tacos: Joy took us to lunch at Caracol, in Houston, an upscale but authentically delicious Mexican spot. My favorite dish was the Tlayuda de Carne a las Brazas—a large housemade blue corn tortilla stuffed with char-grilled beef, yellow Oaxacan chile, and oozy-good Oaxacan cheese. Echo Park's quesadilla lady uses humbler fillings, but her tortillas are just as 👌
This month onscreen: The first episode of Transparent Season 2 is up on Amazon and it's a whirlwind of a 30 minutes that goes by in a flash. We're anxiously awaiting the rest of the episodes, which will be binge-watchable starting December 11. If you haven't watched the first season, do. (You can stream the pilot for free.) It's a genuinely groundbreaking drama/comedy series, created by Jill Soloway, about a set of self-centered LA siblings who are sent into a tailspin when their father announces he's coming out as a woman.
*****
xoxo,
Laramie
p.s. Exclamation points, yea or nay?
I have a somber mission on this fine Tuesday: To write a newsletter entirely without exclamation points. To convey my thoughts and feelings—somehow—through words alone. Or at least without my beloved [!] which I've come to rely on too heavily.
We saw Ricky's mom at Thanksgiving, and I brought her a birthday present, Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, by Mary Norris, long-time copy editor for The New Yorker. I inscribed it something like: "Happy Birthday, Joy. I'm so lucky to have a mother-in-law who appreciates grammar!" Because how could I convey my great enthusiasm without the [!] ?
And then: "Thank you for instilling that same appreciation in Ricky." I gave that sentence a period, but when I read it over it seemed flat. So I added TWO EXCLAMATION POINTS. "Thank you for instilling that same appreciation in Ricky!!"
Oy.
It's mostly a woman thing, I think, this fear-of-conveying-the-wrong-tone. Fear-of-sounding-unfriendly (or terse). Desire to come across as CHIPPER!
When asked about exclamation marks in this Guardian interview, Mary Norris says, "They should be used conservatively. Elmore Leonard said there should be no more than two or three per 100,000 words. I think it should be two or three in a lifetime."
But even Mary plays fast and loose with the [!] when she's on Twitter.
I use a lot of [!]'s when I'm writing dialogue. To exclaim, yes, but also to convey over-eagerness, anxiety, false bravado. (In female and male characters, thankyouverymuch.) I think I think I'm doing that when I use them in casual writing. The exclamation points are intended to be taken in quotes, like, "Look how silly I am!" "I'm emoting!" "I mean this, but I don't really mean this!!!"
Hrmmm. I do love them.
But next time I'll stop and take a deep breath before I ink three in a row.
*****
On the writing front: I'm still hacking away at the fourth draft of Love the Blue, a draft I'd hoped to have finished by mid-October. Tempted to add a "Ha!" here (false bravado) but I'm reining myself in.
One bit of feedback I got was that the script needed more of a twist ending, which at first made me bristle. But after stepping away for a few weeks, I realized, Ohhhhh. The ending just isn't working.
I'm coming at it from a new angle, and I'm not entirely sure where it's headed at the moment. Or when it will be done.
*****
This month in beauty: The air in LA is so dry, I've started taking a fish oil supplement to combat the scaly patches on my face. I'll let you know if it helps....
This month in tacos: Joy took us to lunch at Caracol, in Houston, an upscale but authentically delicious Mexican spot. My favorite dish was the Tlayuda de Carne a las Brazas—a large housemade blue corn tortilla stuffed with char-grilled beef, yellow Oaxacan chile, and oozy-good Oaxacan cheese. Echo Park's quesadilla lady uses humbler fillings, but her tortillas are just as 👌
This month onscreen: The first episode of Transparent Season 2 is up on Amazon and it's a whirlwind of a 30 minutes that goes by in a flash. We're anxiously awaiting the rest of the episodes, which will be binge-watchable starting December 11. If you haven't watched the first season, do. (You can stream the pilot for free.) It's a genuinely groundbreaking drama/comedy series, created by Jill Soloway, about a set of self-centered LA siblings who are sent into a tailspin when their father announces he's coming out as a woman.
*****
xoxo,
Laramie
p.s. Exclamation points, yea or nay?
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