While writing up a shopping list the other day, I took notice of my handwriting. I used to receive many compliments on my penmanship. Nowadays, unless I take the time to write slow and neat, it’s rather sloppy. My online writing has gotten sloppier as well. While there’s no excuse for typos (which I’m famous for!) and bad grammar, I notice that my writing has definitely gone downhill since I began blogging. Because it’s more casual, I tend not to pay as much attention to my writing. The problem is, my formal writing is suffering from my bad habits. I have to fight to avoid some slang words and, also, to keep my tone from being too conversational in my formal writing. I never really thought about it before, but it’s on my mind now.
Have you noticed a change in your writing since you began blogging?
That’s interesting. I was thinking that my recent blogging has helped me tap into a deeper place in my writing. Add that to Twitter – which makes me REALLY think about each word – and I feel like my writing is moving to a new level.
hello …my name is Christy. I know you dont know me…but Im interested in finding something i can do on the side online(blogging interests me )…so i recently came across this website….and found your blog and thought id ask someone with experience how it works and how i could get something for myself online…or i you could use some help yourself…id truly appreciate it !!1 Im 19 and a nurse…just looking for something i can do on the side… Im up for a challenge, computer savvy**, and willing to learn… I’d be so greatful for a response. Thanks again!!!
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It depends. I had a personal blog for years. It wasn’t about the traffic, so when I posted I took my time. My writing didn’t suffer. Now, I have this sort of hyperlocal blog, and my directive is timeliness. The writing is beginning to suffer. I’m sensing that I could take the extra fifteen minutet to polish, but that PUBLISH button is so seductive and official looking.
Cases in point — comment above:
“minutet” supposes to be “minutes”
Did I proofread? No. Why not? Timeliness.
My problem is that I have to fight my natural writing style when posting to my blog! I’m trying to make it more conversational rather than my current academic-research-paper mode, which I’m pretty sure will put readers to sleep. Where I’m seeing a disturbing influence is from Twitter – when I write e-mails or other missives, I have the urge 2 drp vwls & sub #s 4 words. 8-D
Not my handwriting. It’s always been just plain awful.
Deb:
I think it’s probably more damaging for writers to relax our standards in any “findable” format. After all, part of the reason to have a blog is self-promotion, and you just never know when a potential client might find a typo on a blog post and decide to keep looking. As opposed to, for instance, a hobby blog on pet care or muscle cars or whatever, where the readers aren’t necessarily expecting the blogger to have high standards regarding punctuation, spelling, grammar, etc. And you’re absolutely right about habits forming. Habits, good or bad, are self-reinforcing. You train your brain every time you write. Allowing lapses in blog posts makes it more likely that those errors will creep into a “real” writing project – and make them harder to find.
Anne:
I have always had bad handwriting. Since college, my handwriting had become atrocious. A few years ago, when I started making my living writing and discovered a fascination with fountain pens, I stumbled across a terrific workbook for improving handwriting for regular people called “Write Now” by Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay. (Here’s a nice preview at Google Books.) I’m proud to say that my handwriting is now decent, and I even get an occasional compliment on it. It’s also a nice way to stand out – putting handwritten notes on invoices, thank you cards, sales letters etc. is a nice way to put a personal touch on ordinary business correspondence.
Mark
I hand-write letters to older family members once a week, which definitely keeps my handwriting up to standards. If my writing is even a little messy, I get a note back that explains that the reader couldn’t make out what I said. It doesn’t hurt that my grandmother was a school teacher before she retired — my handwriting isn’t the only thing she expects to meet her standards!
I think that those letters really help keep me in a good writing form: they’re so different from the rest of my work that they stretch my writing muscles.
I type much faster than I write. It’s been that way for at least 15 years. I would rather type than write. So yeah, my handwriting leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, I’m considering going to medical school….
I’ve started typing faster and writing slower,so Deb, I agree with you. My penmanship in now ‘keyboard’ art.
In short, yes. I hate dumbing things down, but I do because I have to. It’s tough to switch from the blog to working on my book.
There are times when I felt that the quality of my writing was decreasing whenever I wrote on livejournal. Since it was just among friends, I wasn’t too careful of my writing. I’m starting to write reviews on yelp & it’s challenged me to be more thorough with my writing. You’ve also got Twitter as well with its 140 character limit, that has challenged my creativity too. I love it!
No. I always proofread my stuff — twice. I realized recently that I used to complain when asked to proofread online at my old job. I said I just couldn’t catch errors that way and I needed hard copy. Now, I do it all the time. I’m getting more modern