WRITING ACCORDING TO PEG

The amazing thing about my writing this blog is that I never enjoyed writing!! Whenever I had to write any type of paper in high school or college, I would struggle to put on paper the ideas I wanted to convey and when I was through, I was exhausted. So how in the world am I able to keep this up on an almost daily basis and what’s more, enjoy it thoroughly?? The answer for me lies in what kind of writing it is.

When I was in school, I had to read and research and basically put down in my own words what others had said about the subject. I really didn’t have that many creative notions on my own. What’s more, I had to follow all the rules of grammar and that can be soooo tiresome when you’re striving for perfection (or an A).

And the students now have no idea how tedious it was to type a paper on a typewriter back in the fifties. First, if you made a typo, you had to erase with a special type of eraser that never really got rid of the original mark. Secondly, the notes all had to be at the bottom of the page of the quote or idea you had borrowed, so you had to be really careful to leave enough room to get those in. There was no foolproof way to do this, either; many times I had to do a whole page over because I had misjudged how much space to leave. It’s no wonder I didn’t like to write.

My sisters and I were blessed in one way, however; we had a grammar “tyrant” for a mother. She never let us get away with mistakes like “to you and I,” “where is something at,” or “me” as a subject of a sentence. She corrected us until we got it right. Now whenever I hear these mistakes, I want to do the same, especially after teaching grammar for eighteen years. Alas, my own children (and even most English teachers I know!) make some of the same mistakes, so somehow I failed in that area.

But NOW when I write, I am free to put my thoughts down and not worry about the errors. Oh, I know when I make them (for instance, I should never use the word “you” the way I do; I would have counted off for that no-no). I am not as careful about commas either. But I have noticed when I read novels, that authors are not very particular about that either. So I just put them in when I think I need a pause rather than follow the rules. One rule I DO follow just out of habit, I suppose, is that commas and periods ALWAYS go inside the quotes. But then I notice in England they don’t follow that rule, so it’s probably not that important anyway.

In fact, WHO DECIDES what is correct and what isn’t? Who made the rules in the first place? So I’m just going to continue to write for enjoyment and try not to be hampered by rules and regulations.

AT LAST --- I’M FREE FROM GRAMMAR LAWS!!