If you like to read, and would like to test read some of the nonsense I’m going to publish before it gets published, just drop me a comment here. Some of it is finished and ready for editing stage, some is still in progress.

I should say you probably also need to be okay with adult language and adult situations. I don’t write erotica or porn, but my characters are people from the real world and they don’t talk or act like they live in 1840 England

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Welcome all to Writer’s Confusion #2. Today we will talk about gray vs. grey. This isn’t really a super-important topic when it comes to writing, but I’ve been confused about it for a long time. The funny thing about this is that once I found the answer, I started asking/talking to friends about it, and it has become quite a popular topic (yes, we are NERDS. WORD NERDS).

So we want to talk about iron skies, or geriatric hair color. But is grey the correct word? Or is it gray? Is it important? Maybe…if you are a Grammar Fascist (or British).

I would like to ask everyone…was I the only one that felt really weird about being unsure if I should use grey or gray? Every time I had to write ‘gray skies’ or ‘grey hair’ I waffled for about two minutes as to which one was the correct one…

So, let’s do this!

Writer’s Confusion #2 – Grey vs. Gray

Right. So. Look here mate! Oi! This is the correct version of the dickey bird in the King’s pommy: GREY.

Yo. This here is the ‘Murken (American) way: GRAY.

Yep. It is just THAT simple. If you are British, or speak the King’s English proper, then grey is the way you will spell it probably 95% of the time.

If you are an American, you will probably spell it gray.

Now you can probably see why this is such a good topic of conversation around word nerds! The real and proper answer is that either version is perfectly fine. No one will troll you for using grey or gray instead of gray or grey. Well, someone will probably troll you at some point. That’s what the internet is about. In the meantime, since I’m an American, I have begun to use grey since it is the British version, and there’s nothing I like more in life than annoying the hell out of my British friends!

A couple of web references I used: Ref-1 Ref-2

PS: And remember kids – it’s vs. its

its = possessive. This blog is its own worst enemy.

it’s = contraction of it is. It’s the worst blog on the internet.

So I just got my copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk & White…a little bible of sorts for authors, and one that I haven’t cracked open in at least twenty years. I’ve been banging out the words quite a bit lately in anticipation of getting my first two books published (one novel, one collection of short stories). I’ve been worried that since I haven’t taken a formal English Composition class or Creative Writing class in many years (and prior to the two I took about six years ago it has been at least a decade before that), my proper writing skills would be incredibly rusty, worthless, and cringe-inducing. I think this is the worry of any author, really. Continue reading →