It has been brought to my attention, on more than one occasion, that, when it comes to my blog, I am a little bit lazy. Not only do I hardly ever update it, but, when I do, my posts are invariably full of errors. The excuse that I tell myself for this is “hey, I’m spontaneous! Creativity can’t flourish when bound by rules and restrictions such as spelling and grammar!’ And I wholeheartedly stand by this, but…
As a published author, is it not my responsibility to showcase the English language as it ought to be written? After all, whenever I see someone else who clearly knows nothing about their profession (i.e. an education minister with no experience in education, or a minister for culture with only a history in finance), then I am up in arms, and asking “how can this happen?!” And if I’m reading a magazine article that’s full of errors, it drives me INSANE!
Yes, it would appear that I am a big fat hypocrite.
But, on the other hand, (here I come, gallantly racing to my own defence), nobody’s perfect, right? I mean, it’s only a blog, not a professional publication that goes through proof-readers and copy editors. It’s just me, as I am, laid bare, and in real life. And, even though we should all strive to be the best we can possibly be, if we all thought that every single thing we did had to be 100% perfect, would any of us even bother, or would we be too afraid to try?
Maybe the world needs incompetent professionals in order to inspire others who might otherwise be scared off by the sheer brilliance of the top dogs? I mean, if it weren’t for taxi drivers all over the world, I never would have thought it possible to ever pass my driving test! And if it weren’t for politicians, the morally corrupt might think there was only a career for them in scams, fraud, and theft! And if it wasn’t for lawyers…
OK, maybe I should stop before I paint myself into a rather ugly corner here. The question is (or questions are) - Is it inspirational to see other’s shortcomings, or is it merely unprofessional, and irresponsible? Or does it not really make much difference either way – it’s only a blog?
A few other posts you might find interesting:
I have the spelling/grammar police in my head. It really winds me up when I see someone making the same errors over and over again. “He’s” instead of “his”, and so on. I get nervous about insulting people though, I’m not sure how to correct them tactfully, so I tend not to – especially if they’re not talking to me personally (as in posting something on social media).
Saying that, as a blogger, I make mistakes myself. My spelling isn’t awful, but it’s not as great as it could be. “Does that word have two S’s or one?” I use spell check a lot and the dictionary, and read over what I’ve written to make sure it sounds ok, but sometimes things slip through. I’m unlikely to stop reading a blog – an author’s or otherwise – because of a few mistakes. They happen. If there were several mistakes often, then I’d have to stop reading due to frustration.
I can’t remember there ever being that many mistakes in your blog posts, if any.
Please excuse any mistakes possibly made in this comment! Haha!
I think my problem is that, when I write, either books or blog posts, I pretend that no one is going to read it (not a huge leap of the imagination, but it helps me, and goes completely against the “know your readers” advice), so I tend not to care whether it’s right or not, which isn’t just lazy – it’s rude!