I read an interesting thread on reddit a couple of weeks ago, where a young author was expressing frustration and doubts about their ability to write. I’ve ranted on the frequency of such threads recently, but this one had a response that resonated with something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. The original thread had a number of spelling and grammar mistakes in it, and the response said that if the original poster wanted to improve they should start with proof reading their reddit threads. The comment went on to state that they weren’t trying to be rude, but if somebody really wants to improve, they need to start somewhere.

This is a concept I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. It’s frightfully common for me to just shoot off an email to somebody, or reply to a thread without paying much attention to how I’m framing my response, or my word choice. But really, isn’t that such a waste? Think about the time you spent drafting emails to colleagues or just posting on online threads, that could all be time spent improving your ability to write!

Heck, I consider this blog I’ve been doing for a couple of years now. I originally envisioned it as a simple, stream of conscious type expulsion of ideas and thoughts, which is what it’s been, but maybe I should spent a little more time crafting how these are formatted or worded. It would take a little bit more time, but isn’t it worth it for the sake of improving? Things to think about.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I’ve been watching Into the Badlands and that I appreciate the show’s unique style which helps me forgive some of its faults. I still stand by that statement, but my goodness is the writing so darn awful. I don’t want to just put the show on blast, but it is an example of everything I want to avoid myself: cliched, tired plot lines, obvious (sometimes pointless) twists and enough coincidence to fit everybody. But again, at the same time, I’m still watching. I’m finding myself wondering why pretty often and I don’t know if I have a solid answer for that other than the fact that it’s still interesting, if for no other reason than because it’s very clearly got somebody’s vision behind it. I know I’m repeating what I wrote about the show last time, but it’s something I’ve revisited in my thoughts lately as I wrap up season 3.

In any case, I’ve had some good progress on Penumbra, and I think I have a solid format for chapters 1-10 so far. Things are progressing nicely, honestly to the point where I’m ready to stop writing this and go work. So off to that!