Tag Archives: writing

When posts get lost in my mind

Over the last week and a half, I’ve written a blog post every day.

In my mind.

I hate it when life gets too busy to actually put my post-thoughts down in an actual post. As a result, those posts end up lost for good. Possibly to be found again at a later day, but more likely to never be read by anyone other than my own psyche.

It’s been a very busy week-and-a-half since I last updated. A quick trip to Texas that went way too fast for me followed by work, work and more work. No time to breathe in there, and it left me very grouchy and out of sorts.

However, the trip to Texas was wonderful. I got to see my high school play our biggest rivals — and win in a shut-out — and then I got to spend my entire brother’s birthday with him for a change. I don’t think that’s happened since… uhm… a really long time.

I got to make a quick trip to Aggieland — a place that forever just makes me smile with good, happy memories and a pride that never dims.

And then… then our trip was over. Just as suddenly as it began, it came to an end. I had all these thoughts, all these posts I wanted to write. I had days worth of photos I’d taken, ready to share with others. But time was passing much too fast to do any of it. My creative side… a side as important to me as breathing and eating, was having to sit patiently and wait to be set free again.

Slowly, I am finding a moment here and there to be creative. Photos finally got edited last night. And I’m borrowing a few moments to write this post… because just like I get “hangry” when I want to get something to eat, I get grouchy when I can’t do what is my passion. And sometimes… sometimes you have to say NO and just do what you need to do.

 313: Reflecting on a great trip

Write right

When I was in college, studying Journalism, I had a professor who demanded perfect grammar (AP style, if I remember correctly) in any correspondence you had with him. If you had a misspelled word or improper verb tense use, he’d simply email it back to you without a response and leave you to find the error before he’d answer your question. This could go on for multiple emails until you figured out your mistake!

I remember grumbling about that. What was the big deal, anyway?

Almost 10 years out of college, and I find myself becoming more and more like my professor every day.

Now, backtrack even further in life. I was perhaps 10 or 12 when a co-worker of my Mom’s presented me with this:

AB, CDEDBD Ducks?

MR Not Ducks

OSAR

CDEDBD Wings?

YIB! MR Ducks!

I was frustrated and annoyed by the puzzle in front of me. Oh, haha. See the itty bitty ducks. I get it.  Through the years, I’d get a kick out of word puzzles. I like to challenge my brain, and work at deciphering what is being “said.”

I do NOT like doing that kind of work to read a text or a tweet, and therein lies where I am more like my professor every day.

Last week, I received notification of a new Twitter follower. A reporter here in Nashville had started to follow my Twitter feed. I clicked to look at their feed, and I promptly broke out in hives. Figuratively speaking at least. I did weep some.

Every tweet was filled with things like, “Thank U.” or, “U R why we do our job.” “Going 2 B on at 6. Will U watch?”  (OKay, I am making up these tweets, but you get the idea.)  Needless to say, I did NOT follow back. I was tempted to direct message and tell this person they were an idiot. But I didn’t.

I have, though, been known to just flat out not respond to text messages filled with “R U” and “C U” or “U 2” stuff. If it takes me five minutes to decipher a text, you’ve officially annoyed me and I’m going to ignore you.

Perhaps I should just start sending texts back to the sender until they figure out that taking the time to add a couple extra letters (or use predictive text!) will actually get me to respond to their question. Hmmm…

I happen to love the written word. The fact that I have a degree in a field that requires writing skills is something I am proud of having. I am protective of that written word. Today, though, respect for the written word is low. Our new ways of writing have bastardized it so badly that I am amazed by the lack of communication skills I see on social media sites. (And, yes, I am guilty of judging a person’s intelligence based on how they write. I admit it.)

someecards.com - Thanks to the teachers who instilled in me such a love of English that I'm perpetually mortified when reading the Internet.
So what can I do about it? Just keep refusing to fall into the trap, I guess, and hope that others who are determined to keep up the proper way of writing will outshine those who don’t.

Disclaimer: I understand Twitter has a character limit that forces such short hand in some cases. It’s when there are plenty of characters left and the “shorthand” is used that I get ticked.