Dora's Corner: Writing Well: RYW: Represent Yourself Well!

Warning: Long post...dead ahead...

I am astonished at how many college students lack a sense of writing and/or good writing skills.  I often partake of peer reviews which includes editing papers for mechanics and grammar, and as doing as such, I am mostly met with moments of: “SMH!”
In today’s social media, hashtag e-world, we all know that SMH is the acronym for: “Shaking My Head”.  Heck, some millennials not only lack the ability to write well, or at all, but some are impacted with a lackadaisical disability which severely impacts their sense to write words in their entirety.  Possibly that is why they revert to using acronyms.  Perhaps their time is much too important to spend on writing out every single solitary word.  But, no, I disagree.  I realize and accept why words are cut short; texting.  Texting has to be done so quick that one has to short-cut many words to send a quick text or reply to a text.
I accept that justification (of short-cutting words) when it pertains to texting, and I have come to the realization and acceptance of why one must short-cut words via social media as well...short-cutting via the likes of Facebook might not always be done due to time-constraints, but to be cool.  However, unless one is "tweeting" and only has 140 characters with which to get one’s point across, then a person's purpose for posting updates with acronyms is shamefully to appear cool.  Those who subscribe to the idea of short-cutting words through acronyms and such might think that they appear cool (and uncaring because uncaring is cool these days), but in reality, they appear hindered from living in the real world, quizzas!
IMO (there I go with an acronym, but it is justified here)...millennials short-cutting words and phrases to appear cool is okay - if that is how they will fit into today's society (or lack of society), then more power to the millennials.  But to add, I do not really  wish to know what someone was trying to convey in a silly, short-cut phrase via social media.  Instead, maybe stay clear of social media, or for certain, just keep your post to yourself, because I am not going to read it.  Take that (acronym) “ROTFLMAO” and shove it!
If one is on another social media site other than Twitter, one should really not short-cut one’s words.  When you think about it, short-cutting one’s own words is under-cutting one’s own ideas and views. It becomes self-stifling.  If we do not want others to undermine our ability to write and express our opinions (i.e. rights given Americans via The First Amendment) then why would we allow ourselves to self-edit what we have to say!  If one is going to write on a social media site or perchance on a blog, then would it not be more correct and proper to translate word-for-word what one has to say instead of using acronyms and such for which others might not know the meaning.  Writing well not only includes: proper sentence structure, mechanics, and grammar, but it also includes the ability to express one’s intended purpose(s); to explain!  What the story/post/update means is up to the writer to translate properly in order for the reader to understand.  If a reader has to look up a word, and decides to go with the incorrect definition of a word (or acronym), then most likely he or she will lose the meaning of the entire piece.  I.E. the piece gets lost in translation.
A good writer will properly and thoroughly interject his or her views onto a piece of writing and leave little chance of losing the audience or having his or her ideas get muddled.  One must define one’s writing as one defines oneself.  Perhaps the lack of translating what one has to write onto paper stems from one’s lack of knowing himself or herself...the lack of not having fully and properly defined oneself.
Anyway, if a person is hell-bent with his or her purpose to keep short-cutting words and using acronyms while texting or via social media sites, at least try to improve on one’s grammatical skills.  Most importantly, if one is going to write a paper for school and such or to blog, be mindful of one’s audience and remember that one must put one’s best foot forward.  Write, read, rewrite, reread, and be mindful which people are reading the piece; one's audience could include fellow students and writers, or professional readers and writers, professors, or someone waiting to discover the next J.K. Rowling.  Write eloquently, be respectful, and be professional.  Refer to and please remember the post I wrote on this very blog not long ago: “Contractions are for Pregnant Women…” and also refrain from using contractions and such.
Rereading is another rule in English 101, if one rereads a piece he or she just wrote, and if the piece does not sound or read well or fails to convey the message for which it was intended, then chances will favor the odds that others will not be able to understand or comprehend the piece either.
For certain, find, correct and omit the misspelled words.  My pet peeve; simple spelling errors that go uncorrected.  People who spell badly despite the fact that everyone has equal access to programs that will check one’s spelling (and grammar – a fragment is for software developers and for math - not for English), and do not correct the errors, well, they irk me.
When reading other people's updates, stories, or blog posts, the moment I get to a misspelled word or to a badly structured sentence, I lose interest and move on to something else.  If I do not read your essays, updates, tweets, or posts, it is your fault – not mine!

Dora's Corner: Writer’s Craft: The Art of Writing.

Warning: Long post...dead ahead...

I love writing.  I have been in love with the concept since I was a sophomore in high school.  The tenth grade was when one of my English teachers took notice of my ability to write well; the teacher especially took notice of my affinity for writing.  She encouraged me to write almost all the time, but foolish me, I did not have enough sense to allow myself to believe her…much less to accept her verbal accolades of my writing skills.  I let her praise of my writing ability go wayward simply because she was the mother of my best buddy.  “She had to be lying to me, right?”…that was how I would justify not taking my writing skills more serious.

Through-out high-school as I moved up a grade and into my upperclassman years, I continued to write, but I kind of put the teacher’s words aside; however, the English marm’s words still lived inside of me despite the fact that I remained hesitant, foolish, and scared to heed her positive feedback and perceptions.  The tiny little creative creatures that reside in my head would often, and silently, spew their echoes of what the English teacher had told me on several occasions about my excellent writing skills, and I would allow myself to gradually believe the wonderful teacher’s words of praise and encouragement.

It took several more years for me to believe that I did possess a wonderful craft for writing.  These days, as my love for reading and writing has greatly increased, I pay close and finite attention to what other regular people, similar to myself (non-professional, non-published) are writing.  I am amazed at how other people write.  While some are naturally able to jot down exactly what they are trying to express and convey with a keen sense and style of elocution, other people struggle so much.  Those who struggle often do not have a passion for writing, but then there are those who love writing, yet, they are unable to interpret their ideas into words then onto paper.

The latter type of writer used to be me a long time ago until I decided that it was time to take more serious the very thing which brought out my most passionate side; writing.&nbsFp; Though I struggled with the mechanics of writing, and sometimes with basic grammatical skills, my love for writing never diminished or faded regardless of my lack of proper mechanics and grammar.  I carried onward, and if anyone had issues with my writing, well: “it was their fault - not mine!” – or so I thought.  These days I work hard on improving my mad writing skills because I do care what others think.  English 101 rule #1 is to be mindful of one’s reading audience.  That rule is one that I carry with me all the time now.  Not only is it wired into my brain, carved into my heart, but I keep a tangible copy of it on my person at all times.  I not only know the rule, but I live the rule. 

Words are beautiful…and when done properly, writing opens up a world to everyone where nothing is improbable and the lack of doing something or not being able to make something happen is merely due to the lack of one’s imagination.  Imagine if you will, if someone or something had convinced good writers such as Asimov, Auden, Austen, Bradbury, The Brontës, Brown, Herbert, King, Plath, Rice, Rowling, Tolkien, Verne, or Wells that their works of art where nothing but a bunch of gibberish!  Imagine where our world would NOT be had anyone dared tell any of them such a horrid thing, and worse, imagine if anyone of those writers had listened and not written his or her respective "magnum opus"!  Living in a world sans any of their great works - or without the works of many other writers - is not a world where I would like to reside.  “Love Thy Writer’s Craft!”