Saturday, April 12, 2014

Blogging from #AtoZChallenge - 'kay and Kit

Seriously? No good grammar words begin with K? Okay, OK, 'kay. I'll make do...with...okay. How much fun can we have with this word? Not much, the Chicago Manual of Style doesn't even discuss it. So here's the thing, just so we can get on to the fun part, my horse Kit, just be consistent.

You will run into editors who are fine with 'ok' or 'OK'. Many will insist on 'okay'. This will not make or break your ability to find an agent. But when an editor says do it this way, chances are, you're not going to argue. You're going to replace every last 'ok' with 'okay'. Or vice versa. Much easier job if you've done them all one way. Although you don't have to match case, so it's really not that hard. But believe me, it looks much better if you're consistent. An agent will notice that.

What's you're opinion? I prefer to spell it out. Are we done here? Okay? OK!

Kit's full name was Kit Kourageous. Her breeder named her as a tribute to Eartha Kitt. How many of you had to go look that up? I'm not saying a thing. Anyhow, Kit was my second endurance horse, a 7yo arab saddlebred cross. I live in CO and drove to OR to buy her and do my first 50 mile ride on a horse I barely knew.

I fell in love with her white eyelashes. We completed the ride (although I did learn that while I thought I was small busted, after 50 miles a sports bra is a necessity). I learned a lot from this horse. She taught me that not all bits are the same and just try and bridle her if she didn't like my choice. I learned it isn't wise to blast a 10 mile loop in the middle of a 100 mile ride just cuz I'm having fun talking. I have very few pictures of her because my hard drive died after I gave her to a friend who had lost her horse and this lady very much needed a partner. Kit was perfect for her. She'd given so much to me, then she continued giving to a wonderful person.

The picture on the left below is us at an endurance ride in Wyoming. The one on the right is us at a competitive trail ride in Colorado. Somehow that picture got messed up, but it was one of my favorites.


9 comments:

  1. My preferred Oxford style manual gives both Okay and OK as acceptable. I'd agree that it's one of those things where consistency is the most important thing.

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    1. I'll have to get a copy of that style manual too (yeah, what a weird thing to collect!)

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  2. I always spell out okay. And the coloring on that horse is gorgeous.

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    1. I am very partial to grays. Kit was my first.

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  3. I usually spell out okay. Kit is lovely. Yes, I know who Eartha Kitt was. Who could forget the first TV Catwoman? I didn't realize there were such things as endurance races for horses (and I have a decent amount of experience with them). In the Midwest it was just trail rides, and in the East it was all about shows. I hope you have a new horse now.
    Lexa Cain’s Blog

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    1. Haha, yep, I've got a new horse or two or six. I once owned a boarding facility with room for 60 horses. I had 17 of them at one point. Now I'm down to six which is still too many and never enough all at once.

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  4. Pretty horse! Kit was my nickname as a little kid, and it's also the name of one of my favorite book characters: Kit Rodriguez from the Diane Duane 'Young Wizard' books.

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    1. I've read a couple of Diane Duane's book. I'll have to check out those.

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  5. Following this blog after finding it during the #atozchallenge is reason enough to participate. I write everyday and have great memories of the days I owned and rode horses. This blog is a happy merger of the two for me.

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