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<snip>And this is in the middle of sentences.
> Now, my intuitive editor in my brain says lower case always for mother
> and father, not "My Mother said..." or "My Father's thumb..." What is
> the convention? Where do I find the convention when editing? What book
> would have it?
>
Unless the word "mother" is being used as a name, as in, "Frank, Mother said
you should go pick up Tony at 6," then it's just a plain noun.
> As far as numbers in a memoir, the CMS states that consistency is
> important, either use figures or spell it out, but pick one and stay
> consistent. My client is having a hissy fit because she thinks "some"
> numbers should be spelled out and some should be figures by some
> arbitrary old lady law (old lady=old school, like the 1940s-1950s). In
> addition she randomly uses quotes which make me want to scream! I am
> pulling quotes from things like: "store bought" meaning store bought
> clothes instead of homemade. Or do you all think I should be leaving the
> random use of quotes? And numbers? What's your take?
>
The standard is spelling out numbers one through nine and using numerals for
10 and over.
I agree with you on the quotation marks. "Store-bought" is a perfectly fine
word, but it must be hyphenated. It's not a made up word -- it's a real word
that many people use. If it were a term known only to the author, then
quotation marks *might* be appropriate.
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