On Writing, and Reading.

I find that I really, really want to write.

"Good thing you have a blog," you're probably saying.  And it's true, this is a good outlet for me for the writing creativity to flow, letting me write about what I want to write about instead of writing about what my professors would have me write about.  And yes, sometimes I write awesome things that people love and comment on with multiple exclamation points or link to their own blog or facebook page.  And yes, sometimes I just recount my day with mildly amusing commentary.  And yes, sometimes I stare at my computer screen for an hour before deciding that there is nothing in my brain to be written, and post a YouTube video instead.

The point is, I like to write.  I like to weave words together into sentences and present familiar ideas in innovative ways, or present innovative ideas in familiar ways.  I like to make the complex simple, and the simple complex.  Writing is like painting - you begin with a completely blank canvas, a blinking cursor on a white computer screen and with twenty six letters and the occasional punctuation mark, you create something that can shake people's minds, that can move people to action and challenge their perspectives.  Words themselves are fascinating, if you stop and think about them...but it's the way that the words are put together that makes them truly remarkable.

But, even though I know that I like to write, sometimes something pushes me into an even greater love of writing - reading.  More specifically, reading something that reflects the sort of things I like to write, or would like to write, or something that is reminiscent of my own writing style.  Things like exceptionally well-crafted young adult novels, when vital themes are developed in a reader-friendly way that isn't excessively flowerly in language but possesses all the trappings of masterful storytelling.  It's when I read those things that I remember that I want to write, when I think "I can do that" in a way that isn't arrogant, but inspiring.

Writing and Reading both are beautiful, unique experiences that are capable of empowering the human soul.  Isn't it too bad, then, how sometimes the beauty of it gets hammered out?

I've been a student continuously for no less than 18 years.  In that time, I've read a lot, and I've written a lot...and I've gotten burnt out a lot.  Forced to read things I don't want to read and to write things I don't want to write, I lose the desire to read and write those things which I do want to read and write.  This blog has helped keep me more accountable to writing - there have been days where I have procrastinated 10 page papers for entire afternoons, yet spent an hour and a half voluntarily writing a blog post.  Reading is what really begins to fall by the wayside...when all your homework is reading, pages upon pages upon pages, you really don't want to read in your free time.

And how unfortunate that is...because I love to read.

When I have vacations (such as the present) I remember that I love to read, and read I do.  But during my school semesters, reading for pleasure is the last thing on my mind...even though those are the times that I could most use the escapism that a good book offers the mind.

So here's to reading: reading with the excitement of a child waving their favorite storybook in their parent's face, demanding them to read it just one more time before they go to sleep.  And here's to writing: writing with the flair of an artist than with the drudgery of an overworked grad student.

Here's to the love that goes into every well-written text and well-read book.

Learn How to Write, People.

I've decided that I could be a journalist, if only because of the ridiculous amount of typos and misspellings that I've seen over the past few weeks on various news sites from around the country.  I may sound like an 82 year-old librarian, but hear me out.

The amount of news stories I read on a daily basis has skyrocketed lately, as I've been following stories on 1) the Harold Camping clan, 2) the Joplin tornado, and 3) the never-ending severe weather warnings that pounded Missouri literally all week.  It's been a rough and newsworthy week, and so I've been reading about everything to stay informed.

And, although I am quite informed about all the aforementioned situations, what I am now very aware of is the abundance of misspellings and typos in breaking news stories.

I understand that errors are inevitable when you're pressing to get a story released as quickly as possible, but some of the errors I noticed seem to be committed out of ignorance rather than haste.  A prime example is the article that sparked this post, about the severe weather that came through St. Louis today.  The article leads off with this line...

"Whaling tornado sirens and ominous skies had people scrambling to take cover in Chesterfield late Wednesday afternoon..." (source)


Sigh.

I'll give you a second to discover the problem for yourself, if you haven't seen it yet.

Here's a hint.  It's the very first word in the sentence.

"Whaling" sirens?  I don't think so.  In fact, my dear news journalist, I am almost certain that you mean "wailing."

Whaling, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is "the practice or industry of hunting and killing whales for their oil, meat, or whalebone."  Given that whales are something of a rarity in the landlocked mid-western state of Missouri, I doubt that the sirens were alerting St. Louis residents to the maleficent malpractice of whale poaching.  It is much more likely that the sirens were wailing - putting forth a "prolonged, high-pitched cry."

Dramatic word imagery fail.

I'm not a perfect writer myself, and I hate finding typos or misspellings in my blog posts after they've appeared for the general public to read; in fact, I always fix them immediately upon their discovery.  Why?  Because being able to communicate well is important, and you do an injustice to your ideas and thoughts if you do not communicate them properly.  Also, it's just plain annoying for the people who have to read whatever it is that you have written.

So learn to write...and learn to write well.  Especially if you're going into the paid journalism business.

For your convenience, here are some more helpful hints on how to speak English properly...