Clear, effective and error-free writing is what I strive for. The more people who mention that they've read an article of mine, the more important this goal becomes for me. Though a worthwhile goal, it's not always achievable.
It's a bizarre thing when someone who you barely know comes up to you and comments on your writing. Part of me is flattered that someone would take the time to read an article that I've written. The other part of me longs for my anonymity.
Last week I noticed several errors in my writing that went to press before I could catch them. I even called the printer in Estevan to see if it was too late to make the changes. "They're running through the press as we speak," he said.
It kind of put a dent in my day. The way I see it, not only is my reputation at stake, but the reliability of the paper and the trustworthiness of the article are also called into question.
Then there is the personal side of stories. I sometimes write about real people, their achievements, or events, issues and organizations that matter to them. Poor writing is like leaving stain on all of these things and I hate doing it.
If it sounds like I'm being hard on myself, I am. It's just not in my makeup to be "ok" with mediocrity. In my books, not accepting it is the first step to avoiding it in the future. Whether in writing or in life, I aspire for constant self-improvement.
But rather than beat myself up too much over it, it's good to look at the bigger picture. Bigger picture fact #1: Mistakes can be found in some of the world's biggest newspapers. It might happen less often, but when it does it sure sticks out. Large newspapers usually have teams of editors and a sophisticated process for weeding-out errors. This simply isn't the case working for a smaller paper.
Bigger picture fact #2: Late night television shows have full skits dedicated to poking fun at smaller newspapers. Although I take my work seriously, taking a step back and laughing at it is sometimes a good thing. Like work, not taking yourself too seriously is also healthy.
Bigger picture fact #3: I'm human and we all make mistakes; it's why erasers were invented.
Bigger picture fact #4: As much as I'd like to be, I'm not Walter Cronkite, nor will I ever be. I am just a regular guy with some half decent writing and interviewing skills trying to make a living.
I could go on. I guess the purpose of this column is an attempt to absolve myself of any syntactical, spelling and grammatical sins.
I also think writing helps to put things into perspective. We can rationalize things in our heads but capturing them in written form creates a more tangible object to wrestle with. Writing this column has really helped me to deal with the freak-out that I described earlier. Until I started writing about it, scenarios-both positive and negative-were swirling around upstairs making it hard to separate the two. I'm not the first to suggest that writing is good therapy.
My conclusions are that writing well is not always possible. Errors are inventible, especially when you don't have a department of editors to back you up. Poor writing is something that should be avoided as much as possible, but when it happens, you can't be too hard on yourself.
As this is this is the first time that I've written for such a broad audience, it can be a little daunting at times and what an experience it's been so far. Aside from abiding by grammatical, syntactical and spelling rules, the key to writing well, in my opinion, is honesty. When I'm so focused on the rules of writing and the politics of reporting, I tend to forget this.
I've decided that the next time an article of mine is sent to the press with errors in it, rather than have a hissy fit, I will take a deep breath and say to myself "c'est la vie."
