In case I haven't yet shared this tidbit, I'll let you know that I love to write. I have since I was a wee youngin.'
That being said, I knew when I was very young that writing was what I wanted to do as a career someday. It still is-- thus why I'm going to go to grad school for journalism, and hopefully make a name for myself as a writer. Also the reason why I write whenever I can: two websites, a university newspaper, this blog, my journal.
The more I write, the more I realize that this isn't just something I like to do. As cliché as it sounds, I really feel as though writing is something I'm meant to do.
This may sound as though I'm just tooting my own horn but, when starting in second grade every teacher you have lauds your writing ability and tells you that you should do something with it, I feel as though there has to be something more to it than just ego.
Now, as I continue to write and branch out into different writing styles and mediums, the more I become aware of how I write: my voice, tone, grammar, word choice/usage, all of it. This, coupled with the fact that I am constantly reading due to a) being a bookworm who thoroughly enjoys reading and b) being an English major, makes me extremely critical when it comes to the written word.
This caused my semester in the required intro-level college writing course to be a miserable experience. It consisted of peer editing a lot of papers that were either just flat out poorly written, or (even worse) clearly showed that their writer had a lot higher opinion of their own writing quality than it actually warranted.
Anyway, my critical eye has led to me possessing a general frustration toward much of what gets written today. My family has often been entertained at my expense as I suddenly let out sighs or groans of exasperation or jump up to grab a pen to correct errors while I'm reading.
It doesn't matter what I happen to be reading, be it a book (really, you'd be surprised how many errors manage to sneak into books during publishing), magazine, or newspaper, 9 times out of 10 I will find at least one error. What makes this so bloody frustrating?
The fact that these publications go through editors and copy-editors! People are paid to correct any mistakes and make the writing a perfectly polished piece, and yet blatant errors still manage to slide through!
Granted, copy-editors aren't always reliable. Whenever I have an article published, I always compare it to the original piece that I submitted, just out of curiosity to see what might have been cut. On more than one occasion, I've read articles of mine that were published with errors--spelling, a word or two missing--that were not in what I submitted. Seriously.
I realize that most people don't have someone designated to be their editor. Thus, we have to be our own editors.
Proofreading, my dears, is the key.
When we write, it's easy to rush through and not give what we've written a second look. But that second look is crucial. Spelling errors, grammatical errors, words that look similar used in the wrong context-- all of that is damaging to the credibility of the writer. It takes away from the overall quality of a good writer, and makes a poor writer look even worse.
Personally, as soon as I encounter an error in what I'm reading, my focus on the piece is gone and I'm instead keeping my eyes peeled for the next mistake. And I know I'm not the only person who does this.
So please, if you're going to write something, I don't care how insignificant it may seem, make sure you pay attention to what you're doing.
And always remember the power of proofreading.
