Why I Blog
Last week I posted two blog posts on the same day that were full of typos. Which is really nothing new. It’s just that usually, they aren’t in such glaring places. Like, you know, the title of the post.
Full confession: I am a terrible writer when it comes to technical things like grammar and spelling. I’ve never been good at any of the rules. I think it’s because I’m not a details person. I sort of gloss over technicalities and things and I tend to think everyone else does, too. I focus on content and I assume the whole world functions that way, but it doesn’t. To a lot of people, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and all that jazz is really important and highly distracting when it’s done incorrectly. I totally get that, so I’m never mad or irritated when people point those mistakes out to me. The commenter who said, “Aren’t you a teacher????” had me cracking up because my parents say that to me all the time.
The fact is that my grammar and spelling and writing technique isn’t going to change, on the blog anyway. When I blog, it’s usually around 10:00 at night after a long, full day and my brain is fried. Quite honestly, I have a hard time these days sitting down to blog or write anything because by the time I actually have a chance to sit down and write, my brain is so foggy that words have a hard time coming. It’s a miracle some days that I even manage to find my laptop. So, if you’re coming ’round these parts to find award-winning, high quality writing, you’ve come to the wrong place, my friend.
I blog as a form of therapy and to give myself a chance to create something. It’s my creative outlet, just like painting or sewing or crafting or scrapbooking are for other people. It’s my own little treat for myself. I love publishing it in a blog format because I get instant feedback. It’s like a diary that talks back to you. But sometimes (actually, most of the time), I forget that I have an audience. Like anyone who hones their craft, I tend to get inside my own little bubble and forget that others are actually reading along and so if I miss a comma or spell something wrong, it doesn’t really bother me.
I read every post to Chris when I write them. It gives me a chance to go back over what I write and it also gives him a chance to nix any post he isn’t comfortable with me posting. (FYI – he’s never said no before to anything I’ve written. He’s a good man.) Sometimes on those reads, I catch my mistakes, but usually, I don’t. After a full day of teaching middle schoolers how to write, I seriously just turn off that part of my brain.
When I read, when I write, when I teach, whatever I’m doing, I look for content before I look for look for errors. Maybe that’s right. Maybe that’s wrong. But, in the infamous words of Olive Oil, I yam what I yam. And by blog is what it is.
Me and my blog. We’re full of mistakes, but at least we both know it.
*****
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28 Comments
Alyssa
I don’t read your blog to learn how to write correctly with perfect punctuation and spelling. I read it because I gain insights on how to be a better wife, a better mom. I relate to you. I’m not ‘into’ bloggers or blogging myself. You are the only blogger I follow. I’m not here to learn how to write better, I’m hear to laugh, to cry and to relate to another woman who is going through things I’ve either gone through or will go through shortly. Keep up the great work! Your writing affects so many of us- I don’t think you really can grasp just how much your blog helps others by brightening their days and it has nothing to do with proper grammar 🙂
Waiting for Bulgaria
I love your blog mistakes and all. 🙂 And as you’ve seen from many of my comments, you’re not the only teacher that makes grammatical errors. I didn’t really “get” grammar until I taught it to 4th graders. But in my own writing there are tons of inappropriate commas (I love commas), sentences that start with conjuctions, and sentences that go on for a mile. I just call it poetic license and go on with my life.
Jen @ caved in
I received an email from a co worker with a MBA last week that included the following “I done did” “ain’t never” and “there he go” Until you start using those eloquent phrases, girl we are just fine.
Alyssa
#1, hear vs. here 🙂 Clearly I’m missing the basics in my response! HAHAHAHA!
Christina
Girl, my new boss is a former Wall Street Journal reporter. I’m absolutely TERRIFIED every time I have to send him anything I’ve written! And based on all the red when I get it back, rightfully so.
Yvonne
Katie…My favorite part of the entire blog was this: “So, if you’re coming ’round these parts to find award-winning, high quality writing, you’ve come to the wrong place, my friend.” Damn Straight and a high five added to that!!! I have been reading your blogs for at least 2 years now and have somewhat quietly done so without leaving to many comments. But, tonight I just had to!!! REALLY people?? You actually have the nerve to want critique Katie on her own blog??? Seriously! Keep writing…I’ll keep reading and Ya’all can just get the hell over the fact that a writer has to be perfect. I appreciate reality to perfection, and I think you Katie, are about as real as it gets.
Speaking of real…I need YOUR advice on something…My 24year old daughter wants to move 1500 miles away from home with her fiance and my Grandchildren who are 4 and 2. How do I do this??? You were the first person I thought of when she shared this with me the other night. She has never been away from home for more than a 5 day vacation…and we are so involved in the lives of our Grandchildren. What do I say to her? GO?? Or do I tell her it will rip my heart out?? How do I let those sweet babies go so far away from me…Please HELP me be the best mom I can…I want to say the right thing to her.
Please say that you will help me to say and do the right thing.
Sally Case
Loved this blog…you just keep on writing. Love to visit with your blog!
Amy S
Grammar police go back to where you came from……..honestly, I don’t usually even notice mistakes on your blog because I’m into the content like you. I’m a homeschool mom, and get the “you think you’re qualified to teach your kids thing?” sometimes. Um, yes, I can figure it out, but, like you, I choose for that not to be my focus in my personal writing. We are blessed to be able to share with you in your life. Should I let you know that, only because it was what you were talking about, that there is one grammar and one spelling mistake today 😉 (A part of me thinks you put them there on purpose) Okay, so maybe there’s more that I didn’t notice too. What I do know is that I don’t care one whit about them!
molly
Oh, dearest Katie. I just so happen to be a spelling bee winner 😉 I can’t help it. But even so I love your blog and even if I did find a spelling mistake I would still love your writing no matter what! I don’t read because I’m impressed with your grammar skills. I read because you are honest about motherhood and marriage. I love that about you!
Talia
I read this about Lewis and Clark…..exploring the great unknown!!
“He then apologizes for the description: “I again viewed the falls and was so much disgusted with the imperfect idea which it conveyed of the scene that I determined to draw my pen across it and begin agin, but then reflected that I could not perhaps succeed better than pening the first impressions of the mind.”
While he is far too hard on himself here, we can see Lewis and Clark struggling with a dual difficulty throughout the journals: as they try to get a handle on this new world, language itself sometimes slips away from them.
Even when we remember that English was not as standardized in the early 1800s as it is now, their writings are notable for irregularities of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Clark’s spelling is especially wild. In his entries, the Sioux, for instance, might appear as the “Sieoux,” the “Seaux,” the “Souixx,” the “Seauex,” the “Scioux,” or the “Soues.” He comes up with twenty-seven variations of this one-syllable word. In a single paragraph, Indians might come onto the scene as Siaux and depart as Seauex.”
-From http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/lewis_clark/journey.html
Isn’t parenting young children like exploring or being lost in the great unknown? Sound it out….phonetically…..make it work. There are bigger things to work about that slpelling or smelling or schellingh. Press on sister.
Jessica
Isn’t it Popeye that says that??? I used to watch that all the time when I was little. My step-dad had a cob pipe but I called it his Popeye pipe. One night in a restaurant full of people, he was smoking a cigarette and I asked him very loudly where his “pot pipe” was. Haha. I didn’t enunciate very well.
Holli
Cashindemchecks, you’re lame. Katie, however, is not lame. Yay for Katie!! I love this blog! I don’t come here to read (about) perfection. I come here to read about reality.
Laura
I’m the resident grammar nazi in my group of friends, and even I don’t care if you make the odd mistake here and there….I’m too busy absorbing your awesome stories!
Marradge Confesshunz 4 Lyf!! Wurd.
Meredithy
You go! If the only way new posts come is with typos, then typos abound. I read your blog for content and don’t care at all if there’s errors.
Also, on this other blog I read there is an ‘editz’ box that lets people who read submit typos, grammar errors etc without having to bring it up in the comments. I’ve never used it, but maybe it’ll get rid of some of the more snarky comments?!
Alaina
is it bad that I don’t really notice your mistakes you’re talking about here? 🙂 You seem just fine to me! It’s the content I come here for, not the grammar!
danielle
I make a lot of mistakes when I blog. Whenever I write a wordy blog post I ask my husband to check it. He is really good at catching mistakes even when I swear there are none…
Kelly H.
I am also a grammar nazi, like Laura; however, I feel the content of your blog is awesome and so much more important that little grammatical or spelling mistakes. Keep up the wonderful work!
Bec
Somebody left you a comment on your typos? omg, get a life. Just for the record, I’m not a details person either. I read all of your posts last week and don’t remember any typos.
Michelle
I really have no issues with the occassional spelling error here and there. It’s not like you’re abbreviating text-style when you type. That annoys me!
Besides, reading that you try to keep your “panty” well stocked in your last post made me laugh out loud at my desk last week!
Laura @ Casa del Hansen
And we love you for being so real, Katie. Thanks (it’s good to know I’m not the only one who realizes a day after putting a post up that I wrote the same word three times in a row!)
Anna Mary
I am totally a person who catches grammatical mistakes. I blame my mother. She has a minor in English and will correct my emails if I don’t punctuate properly. However, I rarely notice your mistakes. I get so lost in your life (which I am vicariously living because you are a few steps ahead of me in many ways; setting up a house, being a mother, having a job after months of unemployment, etc.) that I don’t notice comma splices. I am shocked to read that you messed up a title because I thought I would have noticed that, but again, I didn’t. Keep on truckin’ imaginary friend! Ps. I had first written “trickin'” instead of “truckin'”… I’m really glad I caught that before posting—hahahaha!
Carrie
I am all about the content, girl. But you know after I read this I had to go figure out what the heck mistake you made last week. Was it Calvary? So funny b/c when I read the title last week I thought to myself “Gee, I thought it was cavalry. Guess I’ve been misspelling/mispronouncing it all these years”. So you had me fooled. Haha!
Suzanne
I’m not here for perfect grammar or spelling. I like the way you write, I like what you write and I like your honesty. That’s why I’m here and I imagine that’s why most people are here…so keep on keepin’ on 🙂
Pam
I’ve been reading blogs for years and this has to be one of my favorite posts! I have a hard time with grammar, punctuation & spelling which is why I don’t blog. Not because I care what people think but because I get so frustrated with myself for not knowing the proper grammar. I love that you continue to blog. Inspiring.
Tiffany
Anyone who reads material on the internet expecting it to be free of grammatical errors will be sadly disappointed. Most things on the web are put up by individuals without another party editing (as there is with printed books).
Aside from that, I love your blog, Katie. I’ve been reading it for over a year, and I really enjoy your writing. You write how I imagine you speak, like a real person.
Kat @ Living Like the Kings
Just another reason of why we love ya 😉 I read my posts to Jon too before I post them – or at least most of them. Sometimes I tease him and make him read them himself in the morning 🙂
Nikki
I love that you love posting. You’re still the only blog that I read, and I love that it is imperfect. I have been contemplating the idea of taking some online English classes as a refresher, since I often feel like I make a lot of mistakes. I love commas! I am a huge Google Chrome fan since it automatically checks my spelling for me. One last thing to worry about!
Kendall
I couldn’t agree more!!!