Len Maxwell’s book, A Writing Book for Old Fartz, isn’t just for old fartz. Every editor and every writer needs this easy to use reference book.

Many years ago I was taught to put two spaces after each end of sentence period. I was also taught that commas and periods come after an ending quotation mark—no matter what. Now, both go inside the ending quotation—no matter what. Okay, I’ll buy that for dialogue, but for non-dialogue? It’s just not logical, but that’s the way it is. Len gave me the chance to help edit his book and we had many discussions over this issue. He won.

I’d love to get my hands on the jerks that rewrote the rules. Go figure—not all of them are in agreement. Another value in Len’s book is that he’ll tell you if there are arguments between the various gurus of style.

Needless to say, every editor and writer needs Len’s book. It’ll save you the headache of constantly referencing the tome, Chicago Manual of Style (a great book, but quite large).

It’s well worth the price. I may have the manuscript, but I wanted the book and I shall have it in a few days. You can find it on Lulu at A Writing Book for Old Fartz.