A little off topic

Earlier this week I listened to an interesting podcast on grammar (that statement sounds like a contradiction). What makes the podcast interesting is the way that it is presented. The podcast is called "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing". For transcripts and more information take a look at her website. Grammar Girl has a fun and upbeat way of presenting her podcast. She has the wonderful ability to take what could be a dry and boring subject and actually make it interesting and memorable.

I have been listening to the grammar pod casts for a while and have picked up some good ways for remembering some grammar rules. For example, grammar girl gave a very memorable way of how to remember when to use whom (as opposed to who).

I am not sure how other blog writers go about writing their blogs, but as for me I try to make my blog entries interesting and informative, without being too dry. When I started writing this blog, I had a number of funny anecdotes that I wanted share. At first, I thought that the blog would be a good vehicle to sharpen my writing skills and be a place where I could write some of the interesting, and perhaps off-beat things that I notice in my little part of the world.

However, what I found was that I ran out of funny anecdotes and sometimes found it hard to come up with fresh and interesting topics. Last winter I went through a dry patch and had no desire to write blog entries. For one thing, I did not do any open water diving, and for another, just had no inspiration.

One lesson that I learned was that I need to pace myself. Too many blog entries in a short period of time has the effect of causing me to get burned out from writing. Although I really enjoy writing the blog, I find that if this becomes like a job or obligation, then it takes the fun and enjoyment out of it. I want to keep my entries fresh and interesting (at least to me).

So all this rambling brings me back to grammar girl. She mentioned something on her last pod cast about proofreading that actually gave me a fair amount of comfort and relief. Grammar girl wrote "So, given my long history with typos, it has become my belief that it's nearly impossible for someone to accurately proofread their own writing and be consistently successful." I have spent hours reading and re-reading my blog entries to try to catch the dumb typos that I know I make. I often forget to write your and write you etc. What grammar girl wrote helped me understand that I am not alone in the proofreading battle.

The thing is that I don't want to produce a perfect blog entry. That is not my intent at all. My intent is to make sure that I communicate clearly and don't have typos in my post that confuse the meaning of what I am trying to convey. My intention is to have fun with the blog and try to help other divers wherever I can. Hopefully the information I convey from time to time is useful and helpful. I try to walk a fine line between being informative, without giving so much information that it becomes boring.