Everyone's a writer

I've been thinking about the culture of blogging plus reading some not so stellar ebooks on the Kindle and have come to the conclusion that many folks fancy themselves writers these days.

Blogging is a really cool concept and the content is amazingly varied. There is no prerequisite for starting a blog. If you can figure out how to create an account and choose your template, voila... you are a blogger. It doesn't even matter whether or not you actually have something to say. It's cool though, I'm glad everyone has the opportunity for this outlet. I'm all for anything that encourages creativity and possibly even promotes literacy. I just think some "bloggers" (it's in quotation marks because there are people who blog and then there are "bloggers") who take it all a little too seriously.

Moving on to the great literary works that wind up in my Kindle library... I download lots of the free books which is probably my first mistake (although many of the classics which actually ARE great pieces of literature are free ebooks). But I'm really kind of an indiscriminate reader. I read because it is the most effective escape, not because I'm trying to learn something new or enhance my ability to participate in heated literary discussions of the greatest books of all time. Reading for me is a bit like having a television or radio on for background noise is for other people; it rescues me from my own thoughts. Many people don't like silence, I enjoy the silence but I still like to block out the thinking sometimes. Since I'm not exactly particular about what I read, I end up reading a whole lot of crap. I honestly just don't understand how so many books get published with a ridiculous amount of simple proofreading errors, typos, unintentional atrocious grammar, etc. I don't know if it's just the electronic versions are poorly translated or if it's an utter lack of quality control in attempt to find the next best seller that will become a box office money-maker. I don't write error-free or with perfect grammar. I'm a comma whore (who am I kidding, just a punctuation whore in general... exclamation points, anyone?!) and I'll have run-on sentence that could last for days, but it's not my job to write, proofread, edit, or publish! It's kind of like when a professional athlete messes up and I'm screaming "it's your JOB to catch the ball!!" But as frustrating as it can be, I'm sure I'll continue to read poorly written and edited drivel just as millions will continue to watch pro athletes miss touchdowns and free throws.

XOXO
~M