Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 3, Volume 8 | Page 16

an abbreviation of et cetera and the amper-
sand version saves but one letter and isn’t
commonly recognized.
Ampersands are sometimes used in-
stead of and to distinguish the ‘and’ when it
is part of a name rather than the typical
conjunction used when naming a series of
items. Here, too, it feels like a stretch and
more confusing than helpful.
Wikipedia gives this example: “Rock,
pop, rhythm & blues and hip hop.” This also
seems like an unnecessary affectation if we
would but use the traditional serial comma
like this: “Rock, pop, rhythm and blues, and
hip hop.”
For a style guide from the point of view
of academia go to
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/re
source/560/03.
Readers of my multi award-
winning The Frugal Editor will find a free
offer in the backmatter of that book—a gift
from graphic and cover artist Chaz
DeSimone (http://DesimoneDesign.com).
His free poster series illustrates the crea-
tive use of the ampersand, one based on the
authenticity of its simply being visually at-
tractive.
G ETTING T O K NOW C AROLYN
Promoter and The Frugal Editor are multi
award-winners. The latter is her
winningest book and includes awards from
USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary
Award, the marketing award from Next
Generation Indie Books and others includ-
ing the coveted Irwin award. Her third book
in the How To Do It Frugally Series is How
to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Eth-
ically. It was released to acclaim from The
Midwest Book Review and others.
Howard-Johnson is the recipient of the
California Legislature’s Woman of the Year
in Arts and Entertainment Award, and her
community’s Character and Ethics award
for her work promoting tolerance with her
writing. She was also named to Pasadena
Weekly’s list of “Fourteen San Gabriel Val-
ley women who make life happen” and was
given her community’s Diamond Award for
Achievement in the Arts.
The author loves to travel. She has vis-
ited eighty-nine countries and has studied
writing at Cambridge University in the
United Kingdom; Herzen University in St.
Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University,
Prague. She admits to carrying a pen and
journal wherever she goes. Her Web site is
http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com.
We are so happy to have Carolyn How-
ard-Johnson as a regular columnist. She
brings her experience as a publicist, jour-
nalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice
she gives in her How To Do It Fru gally se-
ries of books for writers and the many clas-
ses she taught for nearly a decade as in-
structor for UCLA Extension’s world-
renown Writers’ Program. Both the first
and second editions of The Frugal Book
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
P AGE
11
F ALL 2018