I confess: I stopped reading a blog post the other day because the author wrote “could of” instead of “could have.” It’s one of those errors that stops me in my tracks. The part of me that is an ultra-critical editor comes to the fore. It begins to nitpick other small errors in a post. I usually decide I have had enough of my critical sensibilities and leave a post before I can become unreasonably irate.
Archives for March 2013
Why Do You Obsess about the Writing Rules?
“Why do you obsess about the writing rules?” The question wasn’t phrased exactly like that, but it was asked of me. I was asked why I’m concerned with the writing rules.
I had to pause before answering. The rules are so innate (even though I don’t and won’t ever know them all) that I can’t recall when I became fascinated with them. I know they weren’t always a part of it; like anyone else, I had to learn the building blocks of sentences. I learned new spelling and vocabulary words, diagrammed sentences, memorized prepositions. Even then I enjoyed the way words sounded and the way they could be put together to form sentences, paragraphs, and stories. Did the rules become a part of my writing life during those years?
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Write Right Goes through the Looking Glass
Writing is Like Driving a Standard
To drive a standard is to be in tune with one’s automobile. It’s to recognize when it’s time to shift, up or down. It’s to know when to put the vehicle in neutral or when to stay in motion, fluctuating between the brake and gas pedals.
Why I Studied Poetry
I could name a number of reasons for why I chose to study poetry in graduate school. I could say I was lost, and it would be true. I didn’t know what to do after some job opportunities closed during my final semester as an undergraduate. Where was I to go? What work was I to do? Such questions haunted me. They found some alleviation in the suggestion from my college mentor: apply for graduate school.
Quality, Quantity, and the Sixty Hour Work Week
A past co-worker once asked whether I took work home with me. I told him no. He seemed flabbergasted. For him, taking work home was a sign of dedication and productivity. I didn’t agree. Taking work home with me indicated an inability to order my life in a healthy way and asked what I did with the hours I had available during the day. I know work sometimes extends past usual business hours, but if I arrange my work and prioritize tasks in a way that works for me, it shouldn’t have to follow me home very often.
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