This morning I picked up our local newspaper (yes, the old-fashioned kind on paper that gets ink on your fingers and can be ruined by a rain shower) at the end of the driveway. I used to read it first thing in the morning, but that was before the internet. I still look at the paper most days, but often there’s just more fresh, colorful stuff to be found online. Not to mention checking email, stats and Facebook.

On page two I saw a headline that says, “24-Year-Old Who Broke Penn State Story Wins Pulitzer.” Sara Ganim worked at the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as a police and courts reporter. She was cited by the Pulitzer judges for, “courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Penn State scandal” involving coach Jerry Sandusky’s alleged child molestation.

As a former journalism major who started out wanting to be a scrappy girl reporter, I give Sara Ganim a standing ovation, fist pump and a big old Facebook “Like.” To see that a reporter who works at a “real” local newspaper could break a big story like the Jerry Sandusky molestation case and apparent cover-up, practically brings a tear to my eye.

I don’t know anything about Sara Gamin except what I read in that single article. I have not Googled her, or tried to find out any extra scoops. But I’m guessing that when she was hired at the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, she might have wondered if this position in courts and police reporting would be a snooze-fest, with nothing interesting to report week after week after week. I very much doubt that she could have predicted her role in a huge scandal that could bring some much-needed soul searching in the collegiate football world, and eventually a form of healing and closure to the victims.

Since I was a kid, I got a kick out of the old movies featuring smoky newsrooms and snappy banter between reporters. I was in junior high when my parents followed the developments in the Watergate scandal, and Woodward and Bernstein became celebrities. As a teenager, I was inspired by a character on the Lou Grant TV show that came after The Mary Tyler Moore Show had ended (anyone remember the redheaded Billie?).

So many people have given up daily newspaper delivery and don’t even keep a home phone line any more. In the faster, more glamorous digital world, it’s somehow gratifying to see that a real reporter on a real newspaper can still make an enormous impact on revealing disturbing truths that have been swept under the rug by a system of denial and more denial.

I often hear that young college grads don’t want to pay their dues any more. They expect to do great things right out of college, and see no need to stick around in a less-than exciting job that might not lead to anything. It appears to me that Sara Ganim has managed to do great things while paying her dues. She’s my new role model.

Hi again, bloggers. We need to talk, and I’m really not kidding this time.

Internet marketers and money-making gurus, I’m talking to you, too.

Even some of the best writers are making this mistake. I see it all over the internet, from the small mommy blogs to the millionaire marketers who claim to teach us all how to make thousands each day.

Incorrect Use of the Apostrophe

Even though the apostrophe is used to indicate possession,  when you use a pronoun like her, you do not use an apostrophe.

For example, Sharon’s new car is red.

HOWEVER, when you are using a pronoun like her, you do not use an apostrophe.

Whose red car is that?

The red car is hers. (NOT her’s)

You NEVER use an apostrophe with hers.

Hint: Have you ever seen matching bath towel sets embroidered with “HIS” and “HERS” on them? When you are writing, remember that the words HIS and HERS also come as a matched set. You would never even think of using an apostrophe with “His.” So knowing that they are a matched set, you can always know that neither one ever takes an apostrophe.

Take a look at these other examples to clarify other similar (and very common) mistakes:

Is that dog your neighbor’s?

The dog is ours.  (NOT our’s)

Did I win the prize?

The prize is yours.  (NOT your’s)

Which house belongs to the Andersons?

The brick house is theirs.  (NOT their’s)

Bonus Tip

When you have a word like guru, and you want to make it plural, you just add an s. Yes, I realize that you already know this, but some people have the instinct to use an  apostrophe and turn it into “guru’s” as a plural. Is it possible that some people think that a word like “gurus” looks funny and it’s more clear to add the apostrophe? Don’t do it!

In Conclusion

If you can avoid making these mistakes in your blog posts, emails, and especially in your headlines, you’ll be avoiding some of the most common and most obvious errors that I see online.

At a Loss for Words? 

Do you ever worry that you’re overusing certain words, like maybe great or amazing? Author E.B. White famously said,

Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able.

That’s good advice, but as he also showed us in Charlotte’s Web, sometimes you have to do a little searching to find new ways to say something positive. Charlotte had to send her friends to search through a garbage dump for magazine scraps just to get some ideas. This list should make it a little easier for you to mix up your language a bit.

Click HERE to read the list at TribalBlogs.com.

Peeping Tom

Lady Godiva was a noblewoman who lived in England in the eleventh century, who began campaigning for a tax reduction. She made an agreement with her husband that he would reduce taxes when she rode naked through the market square.

Legend has it that Godiva sent word to the people of the town, asking them to avert their eyes as she rode naked through the market. Everyone honored her wishes except one tailor named Tom, who snuck a peek as she rode by. Immediately after viewing her, Tom was struck blind.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST AT TRIBAL BLOGS.

Sophophobia is not the fear of your 15-year-old daughter’s Halloween costume, although that could be frightening for a lot of reasons.

Write a Novel in a Month

Writing a novel has always been a very solitary activity, but that is changing.

November is National Novel Writing Month. If a deadline helps you write, if you are OK with a goal of quantity over quality, or if you could use email pep talks to get the job done, you can join the 200,000 people worldwide who participate through NaNoWriMo.org.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST AT TRIBAL BLOGS.

When do you use a hyphen?

The following rules cover the most common uses of hyphenation.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST AT TRIBAL BLOGS.

Have you been thinking lately that you could you use a few new ideas for your blog? How about 500 great ideas for your blog? You don’t have to think of them yourself. Take a look at these tips to give your blog a little boost.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST AT TRIBAL BLOGS.