Val Dumond

Val Dumond loves words! She writes, edits, speaks them, and she helps other writers use words better. Yes, she admits to being a word addict. Her latest book, the result of a lifetime of writing and editing, is AMERICAN-ENGLISH—THE OFFICIAL GUIDE! It's written specifically to aid writers in developing their own writing style by creating their own STYLE MANUAL. She claims that American-English is NOT a set of rules, but is composed of "a delicious choice of words and ways to put them together." Visit Val's books at http://www.valdumond.com

With a recent book, she established herself as a Grammar Anarchist (THE ANARCHIST'S GUIDE TO GRAMMAR). This book demonstrates all she has learned about language over the years to make writing easier and more fun. She previously published the best-selling GRAMMAR FOR GROWNUPS (HarperCollins) and two books about inclusive language—ELEMENTS OF NONSEXIST USAGE (Prentice-Hall) and WORD—THE US AND THEM THING (Muddy Puddle Press).

This language adventurer dared herself to publish a book each month in 2012 (the "Twelve In 12" Project). And she did!—updating and revising five previously written novels and adding anthologies and collections that had been languishing on her computer.

Her latest novel—PANDORA'S HUNNERT JANUARYS—a fiction/nonfiction view of 20th century women flying out of their boxes and finding their voices, covers the changes in women's lives during a brief 100 years. Women's organizations and women's studies programs are raving about this collection of "women firsts" and especially "black women firsts". One reaction to the factual information is usually, "I didn't know women were that involved all those years ago!"

For writers in a hurry, she published 24 (count 'em, 24) books in a Kindle Series: GRAMMAR IN YOUR POCKET. These include books devoted to the various PARTS OF SPEECH -- Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs, Phrases & Clauses, Conjunctions, Prepositions, Articles & Interjections; some on PUNCTUATION (Commas, Colons/Semicolons/Periods, Parentheses/Brackets/Quotation Marks, More Dots & Dashes); and a few on WRITING SKILLS: words, sentences, paragraphs, spelling, numbers, unbiased language, and writing style. You may want to start with the Introduction (#1) or Grammar Glitches (#24) for overviews and instant help. More grammar fun at http://grammaranarchist.blogspot.com/

A grammar guru from the get-go, Val is recognized as an authority in the field of inclusive language (nonsexist, nonracist, nonageist, nonclassist, etc.) She has published three books on inclusive language: ELEMENTS OF NONSEXIST USAGE (Prentice Hall and a Japanese press), and JUST WORDS: The US and THEM Thing (Muddy Puddle).

Val carries her word interest into such groups as Pacific Northwest Writers Association, EuraLex (composed of European lexicographers), and the Dictionary Society of North America. She lives a writer's life in the Pacific Northwest, United States of America, where she learned about American-English.