A short drive from my home sits a coffee shop. Since I live in Washington, this should come as no surprise to you. This shop, however, serves way- better-than-Starbucks coffee. Not only that, but it also serves gelato. How can it get any better than that?

The Spotted Cow impressed me by its brew. They gained a customer for life (or for as long as I'm in the area) by roasting their own beans and turning those babies into soft, aromatic, tasty espresso.

As good as its coffee is, the Spotted Cow also provides the perfect place for me to gather with business connections and clients. My first visit to the shop was to meet with Brian Trendler of Trendesigns, an amazing graphic design company I've had the privilege of working with often. I've since met with many others there, sipping fancy joe or eating gelato while we talk about our passions. They let me ramble about grammar and syntax; I get to hear their thoughts on business, health, or gardening.

This little coffee shop gives me the venue for my favorite part of my job. There I get to build relationships. I get to know other people's passions. I get to find out what makes business owners tick. Doing so is a pleasure, and I'm happy I've found a place that makes the time even more delightful.

An editor is, in a way, a philosopher.

Just as a philosopher seeks answers to the great questions of life, an editor seeks clarity within a body of words. Her job is to ask questions of her authors, to discover the whys, whats, and hows of stories. She takes pleasure in clarifying confused thoughts.

Lots of things can cause confused thoughts to appear. Sometimes the author has the story mapped out in his mind but forgets to transfer it all to paper. Sometimes he doesn't notice a gap in his logic or storyline. Sometimes she does not know how to explain a complex feeling and so glosses over it. Sometimes the brilliant cadence of a phrase overrides the author's sense that something is wrong.

So, like a philosopher, I get to address problems that some people don't see. But I'm pleased to take this kind of philosophy one step further. I get to solve mysteries (some solutions depend on the context), not just theorize about them.

Learning never stops. During grade school, I memorized prepositions and underlined direct objects. Junior high and high school led to identifying gerunds, arranging compound-complex sentence structures, and diagramming sentences. I thought I'd learned it all, and then college hit.Every semester during college I took a different journalism course. In each class, my wise professor subjected us to grammar lessons and quizzes. Most of it I already knew, but the practice was invaluable.

Now, several years later, I'm still studying grammar books; I'm still finding new things. Occasionally I hope to post my discoveries here in hopes that people who read this blog will learn also (or be amused at the oddities of our language).

Here's my first discovery: Apostrophes CAN help form plurals.

Occasionally.

This does NOT work on everything (*cough cough* Facebook people): "The goat's ate out of my hand," or "My brother's are going to a Tim McGraw concert tonight." Those examples are not correct. After all, why complicate a simple plural by adding an apostrophe? "Goats" and "brothers" are much easier.

Because of the huge misuse of the apostrophe-s combination, I've been afraid of applying it to any non-possessive circumstances. I'm glad I was wrong.

This is the rule, according to The Copyeditor's Handbook. An apostrophe followed by an s can indicate the plural form of an "abbreviation that has an internal period," a "nonitalicized lowercase letter," and a "word for which adding s alone would cause confusion."

That might sound like another language to grammar-phobes, so let me give examples.

First, "R.S.V.P.'s are quite necessary to gain an accurate head count." The apostrophe is OK because the abbreviation "R.S.V.P." has multiple periods within it. I can't think of very many abbreviations like this that you would want to make plural, but if you ever do come across one, that's what you do with it.

Also, "Please dot your i's" is more clear with the apostrophe than without (that's how we know the word is "i's" instead of "is.")

Other words need an apostrophe to keep the reader from becoming confused. The author of The Copyeditor's Handbook uses the example of "do's," which looks much more baffling as "dos." "Dos" isn't even an English word.

These rules might not change your life, but they have altered mine. Plurals are a frequent issue in writing. Learning these rules about the use of the apostrophe in plurals -- it makes a huge difference in my work. I'm excited for the chance to apply my new knowledge.

I wonder what I'll learn next.

I found this amazing section at the local library. It's upstairs, tucked two-thirds of the way back on the right. 808.02.

That section is an aspiring editor's heaven. Writing books. Poetry books. Editing books. Freelance-business books. Titles like The Art of Non-Fiction, Will Write for Food, The Spooky Art: Some Thoughts on Writing, and Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing.

At first, I pulled book after book off the shelf. Then I realized I'd never be able to read them all in the three weeks checkout time the library allowed, so I picked an important-for-my-freelancing book -- The Copyeditor's Handbook -- and a grammar-nerd-fun book -- Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch. Pure pleasure. I whipped out my pen and paper to write down the others I wanted to read; they will go on my Google Drive book list so I remember each marvelous volume.

Learning is an important part of my business. No copy editor or writer knows everything. Expanding my knowledge makes me a stronger editor -- and it's fun! I can't wait to dig deeper.

This afternoon I settled down with a cup of iced chai and a cherry pie cupcake to write a letter to local businesses I hope to work with. It was the perfect setting for inspiration, especially with my Jim Brickman Pandora station playing in the background and a cool breeze streaming through the windows.

Marketing myself can be intimidating; the perfect setting helps motivate me. What I aimed for with this letter was a piece of myself on the paper. It needed to combine the boldness I feel and the sweetness I manage my clients with. Hopefully I succeeded.

My cleaning projects are already finished for the day, and my small flower garden has been watered. In a few minutes my husband will get up so we can have a date night before he heads to work. I think the plan is Despicable Me 2 and dinner. I hope he wakes up soon....