Do you Write Like you Talk?

Today for my 44 I did weighted burpees!!  Sounds fun, right?!  I held 10 pound dumbbells while doing these super fun little gems!!!

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-RpUfTqSsc’]

Not gonna lie – these were hard!!

I also had Garage Boot Camp.  I thought about just winging it today but decided that would require way too much thinking on my part so I did a version of my very fist boot camp from the summer – 10 x 3 but today I surprised them and we did 10 x 5!!

Screen shot 2013-10-16 at 9.44.41 PMJordan got back his first high school English paper yesterday and said he didn’t think his English teacher liked the way he wrote based on the comments he gave.  Some of the comments:

  • This doesn’t make sense here.  Jordan – it made sense to me.  Yes but you aren’t the teacher.
  • Don’t use quotes unless you are actually quoting something.  Jordan – I was using them like you do when you talk and do finger quotes.  Yep -makes sense to me but not gonna fly on an English paper.
  • No run-on sentences or fragments.  Jordan – I was just writing the way I talk.  Dude – I get it – I’m the queen of using dashes instead of ending my sentences.  However, once again, this will not work on an English paper.
  • Don’t bold a word.  Jordan – it was to show emphasis.  Yep – makes sense but I don’t think that is the way to do it on an English paper.

Basically, I told Jordan – writing is all about creativity and self-expression EXCEPT when you are still in school writing English papers.  Then it is about following ALL the RULES.

Screen shot 2013-10-16 at 9.51.32 PMListening to him talk about his writing and the fact that he was just writing the way he talked made me think about the way I write.

I totally write the way I talk.  The never ending run-ons with dashes – just the way my thoughts and words flow.  The constant use of (_____) to add that little extra thought – exactly how I think and say things (hard for me to stay on topic all the time).

When you think about it – the whole writing mold that is taught all the way through school is rarely followed later in life (and I mean no offense to English teachers because I understand that it is an important thing to learn!!!).

Look at some famous authors that have very unique writing styles:

Screen shot 2013-10-16 at 9.58.09 PME. E. Cummings – no caps, no punctuation and yet he was published numerous times.  Pretty sure that wouldn’t pass even the most basic English class.

Screen shot 2013-10-16 at 9.56.08 PMWhen the boys were little we read lots of Junie B. Jones books – Chris hated it because the grammer was so poor – I tried to explain that it was written from the point of view of a first grader but…

So, I told Jordan that for now he has to apply all the rules of his teacher – which even includes the font style and size (yikes!!!).  

Then, start a blog and write in whatever style makes you happy!!!

Do you write the way you talk or do you follow all of the rules you learned in your high school/college English classes?

Happy Thursday!!

Kim