“Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.”
~ Author Unknown

Did you notice the “intentional” goof in the quote by Author Unknown? If not, “proofread” one more time. I cannot even begin to count how many times I have gone back to an old post and found an error so obvious even a third grader would spot the mistake. Why does this happen to me? I’m not alone, it happens to all of us. I caught an old blog post error yesterday and edited it out. My grammatical faux pas: A Autumn-” instead of “An Autumn-.”

A good site that points out grammatical mistakes along with overused words and phrases is AUTOCRIT. Take a look at this terrific site if you enjoy writing, but sometimes miss your own mistakes.

“I have spent a good many years since―too many, I think―being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”
~ Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

My all-time favorite book on writing is Stephen King’s “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.” Beyond the often hilarious and touching biographical chapters you will find a goldmine of good advice on writing.

I’ll end with this great quote in hopes that even though I sometimes miss my mistakes, I usually am able to make a point of something in each blog post.

“Many writers profess great exactness in punctuation who never yet made a point.”
~ George Dennison Prentice (1802 – 1870)