Writing Sound Work: More Than a Skill

The skill of writing sound work is barely a skill at all. I would argue that writing sound work is actually just that; work.

If you want sound, clean copy, you need to put in the time. You know that old saying, “life is like a sewer, you get out what you put in.” Something like that.

This time you put in is generally from rereading and rereading your work, so much so that you could read it without even looking. Once you get to that point, you need to have someone else look at it. You could be reading it and because you know your piece so well, you’re filling in the blanks where there are mistakes (look I rhymed).

Hand the piece over to a close friend who you know will be honest, and is strict when it comes to the rules of grammar (you know, that person who always corrects the mistake on your Facebook status).

Once they read it over, you should read it over again. If you have yet to read it out loud, do so! That is when you pick up a lot of mistakes. I mean, if you want sound copy, it makes sense to sound it out, right? If it sounds good, chances are it’s grammatically correct, or at least close.

Even after that, there can still be mistakes. This is a good time to call in the big guns, just to make sure. It seems obvious, but if you are writing on a computer, USE SPELLCHECK! It doesn’t pick up everything but it can pick up a lot. Better safe than sorry. Something like this could make it into the newspaper, and it's difficult to change words that are in a news paper, trust me...

Now, if you put the time in, you should be ready to post your beautiful blog about “writing sound work” on the World Wide Web.

Funny, that’s what I’m doing now. Better go through my steps… if there are any mistakes in this it will be embarrassing.

Yup. Caught a few. That was a close one!

The Importance of Being Earnest (not as important as being grammatically correct)

Extra, extra! Read all about it!

Your in university now, theirfore its important that you're writing looks the part.

Call me a stickler, call me an a-hole (the number who have are legion), but when I am reading and come across a grammatical mistake, it propels me into a state of near-homicidal rage. Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but simple errors in grammar and spelling do cause me to not only doubt the writer, but, to some small degree, the veracity of what s/he is saying. 

Perhaps now some of you are saying (with a smug look), "I make mistakes because it's part of my style and my titillating picadillos add a unique flavor/colloquialism/patois to what would otherwise be a dry, monotone the-quick-fox-jumped-over-the-lazy-dog routine." Fine. Good for you. Clearly, you are a-ok in my book as you have equipped yourself with the necessary tools every writer should have in her belt and are now improvising. As a matter of fact, you can just stop reading now. Make your obligatory comment so Kathy and Amanda give you your gold star and go finish watching that "The Walking Dead" episode. When you see me in class tomorrow, catch my eye and wink while tapping the side of your nose with an index finger--I'm picking up what you're laying down.

However, if you don't know the difference between a contraction and a possessive pronoun (you're vs. your) or don't know which types of nouns get capitalized (proper), then you need to step up and put in a little time. Look, I am not saying that everybody should know, necessarily, what an 'intransitive verb' is (it can't hurt), but at the very least, familiarize yourself with the different parts of speech. 

For more reasons why good grammar is your friend--see that? the gift that keeps on giving--check out this article by Melissa Donovan.