Hosts Heather Cashman, Stephanie Bearce, and Nicki Jacobsmeyer welcome nationally recognized grammar expert Patty McGee, author of “Feedback That Moves Writers Forward” and “Not Your Granny’s Grammar,” to discuss grammar as a tool for clarity, intention, and voice rather than rigid rules. McGee explains why grammar feels scary due to shame-based schooling and “grammar police” culture, and emphasizes learning key sentence structures (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex) to shape rhythm and meaning. She advises that grammar focus during drafting depends on a writer’s fluency, highlights comma splices as a common issue, downplays strict comma-before-conjunction rules, and encourages intentional rule-breaking—especially in dialogue—based on audience and purpose. The group discusses distractions like repetitive punctuation errors, AI’s conflicting guidance, knowing oneself before critique, and trusting candid readers and copy editors, then closes with a lightning round on Oxford commas, fragments, adverbs, and starting sentences with conjunctions.

00:00 Welcome to Way-Word

00:32 Meet Patty McGee

01:38 Why Grammar Feels Scary

03:58 Rules vs Voice

06:22 Four Sentence Types08:30 Drafting or Revising

09:48 Comma Splices and Commas

15:00 Grammar as Paintbrush

16:38 Authors vs Copy Editors

18:41 Grammar Distractions in Queries

21:50 Where Rules Came From

23:52 AI Grammar Anxiety

25:00 Know the Basics

26:00 Writing Voice Choices

26:57 Audience and Genre Rules

29:01 When to Let Go

31:04 Lightning Round Grammar

36:08 Professional vs Personal

36:55 Where to Find Patty

37:22 Final Thanks and Outro

Go to Patty McGee’s website here!

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EPISODE 109: ​Grammar as a Craft Choice with Patty McGee

EPISODE 109: Grammar as a Craft Choice with Patty McGee