This thought came to me after my last blog. My wife normally proofreads my blog so I do not sound like an idiot. I thank her for that. Well I wrote my last two blogs without her checking my work and both times she gave me that disgusted look as if my brain has leaked out of my ears. The last one I corrected with her supervision. I am almost ashamed of it. What really gets me is after she is done correcting my writing the work does not look like mine. I know that is a good thing from time to time but does that not make it some one else’s work. I know that it is my wife’s way of helping me and staying involved in what I do but how can I get better if she keeps helping. I know that I suffer from poor writing skills. I write as I talk, I make tensing errors, and sometimes I forget to use commas altogether. So that is why my wife started to help me with my writing.
As of late my wife has gone a little overboard in the correcting of writings. For my job I have to write everything in the past tense and with out personal nouns like I, me, he, she, you, they etc. I know that this has only hurt my already piss poor writing skills but that is one of the reasons I join ProgressiveU, not that you all can help me fix my work, but that I would feel compelled to write better by being around better writers. I feel that I have gotten better but I do not think that I will ever improve in my wife’s eyes. To her I think I will always be that stupid lazy person that she married in a moment of irrational thinking. She used to make me make the correction to my work. I found that helpful but as of late she has just made the corrections and moved on. I am worried that if I let her keep doing this that I will lose what little improvement that I have made since I came to here and started writing.
I used to write on tv.com on the message board there, but I felt like I was wasting away trash talking to people. That is when I came back to ProU. I saw the intelligent conversations my wife was having on here and I wanted in. That is another reason why I joined to have talks that did not need the use of four letter words. I am writing this for you, my wife, the only person that I care what they think of me. Please let me crash and burn, or fly, but do not correct my work as if I was a five year old. I want to get better but how can I if you do all the work for me. I love you.
Your writing may not be perfect, but at least you are ahead of some others. You know how to use a space bar and you don't think the shift key contains a potent form of leprosy that will make your fingers fall off if you capitalise! (I'm not joking... I was an English teacher. >_<)
One thing I've been told works for my students was to read more and emulate what they saw. It will also increase your vocabulary. Another trick I had was to take a few of the ESL (English as a Second Language) classes that are online for free. It helped me refresh my memory of some of the basics that I would need to teach English in China. If you need any other help, you can always contact me through ProU or Insanitek (see link in signature).
Whatever you do, don't give up! You can make the improvements! ~cheers~
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You can't ignore me, for I'll not lie down quietly.
http://insanitek.net
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Thank you, I will take your advice.
Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is. Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1749
I recently was faced with a similar dilemma. I'm normally very private about what I'm writing and won't share it with anyone until I think it's almost perfect, so any editing by other people is usually minor. However I recently had an important letter that I knew I wasn't writing very well, so I asked a friend to edit it and make it sound good. After her editing it looked a thousand times better then what I had, but she had changed it so much that I worried it didn't sound like me. I'm glad she helped me with it, but I had to read it over and over and think carefully about every change she had made before I decided I could put my name on it.
"Life is too short to make just one decision
Music's too large for just one station
Love is too big for just one nation and
God is too big for just one religion"
-Michael Franti and Spearhead "East to the West"
Your wife sounds a little evil and yet somehow loving. I am sure she does not mean to belittle you. I have had a similar issue with my hubby. I am sure if you told her she would understand.
There is one of two thing (or both) that you can do. One involves something she can do. In the word document, instead of just correcting it for you, she could highlight the area of conscern and 'Insert' a comment bubble and explain in there what the issue is. Then you can choose how you wish to correct the problem. This is my favorite way because it is simple and it makes the author consider what was writen.
The other thing is something you can do. Activate 'Track changes' through the tool menu that way as she corrects and makes changes the items will be red so you can easily see what has been changed. You can choose to accept or decline changes too. This is good so that you can see what was missing and how it changes the 'sound'.
Have fun and keep on,
~T
A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins. ~Benjamin Franklin
You are not a bad writer at all. I have read and commented on several of your blogs. I would just try and do it yourself. I really suck at writing yet I don't have anyone check my writing. I have been ridiculed so I don't let anyone see it. I had showed my dad and boyfriend that I finally had a blog on the front page and they just kinda looked at it and didn't say much. So let your work be your own. Really proofread your own blogs. Remember commas normally come before and, but, and therefore. At least I think. lol.
You will improve your skills, many people have told me I have so you will, just try hard and put more of yourself into your blogs :)
Sorry to disappoint you, but I am voting for Lewis Black.
DrifterDani~
You don't "really suck at writing." I don't read blogs/comments by people who's writing really sucks unless I have to, but you've caught my attention as someone worth reading. :D
"Life is too short to make just one decision
Music's too large for just one station
Love is too big for just one nation and
God is too big for just one religion"
-Michael Franti and Spearhead "East to the West"
Thanks for the compliment. It sucks because I hear the words in my head that I want to write yet they don't come out as gracefully as I would like. I have improved at least. I can write ok poems. lol.
btw you write good as well, and the same applies with me reading or commenting on blogs.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I am voting for Lewis Black.
DrifterDani~
Funny thing... one of my friends is working on applying to medical school (she better hurry up too... if she waits much longer to submit her app, she won't get in anywhere), and sent me her personal statement today to look at. Now, AMCAS requires that your personal statement be no longer than 5300 characters; a little over a page, single spaced. Her draft was over 7500 characters. Needless to say, I went in and did a whole bunch of chopping, trying to keep her tone the same while altering sentences so they were said in 10 words instead of 30. I managed to get her down to 6300 characters, and gave her a whole bunch of suggestions for things to change and edit in order to meet the character maximum.
What I find most interesting, though, is that the statement I read didn't sound anything like the girl I remember. I don't know if she's simply become more sophisticated (considering I haven't spoken with her in person since we graduated from high school, that's entirely possible, and our English teacher said she made some remarkable improvements in her first semester at college), or if she's trying to sound smart. Or perhaps she showed her statement to someone else, and they made it more flowery. Either way, I think she really needs to work to make it sound more like herself, while still making the point she wants to make. Hopefully she'll be able to do that.
~C
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