On pet peeves and mistakes

I am a good writer.

I know this to be true, and can say so without feeling like a jackwagon (my new favorite insult, thanks to that GEICO commercial), because nearly every teacher from elementary school up through college, an editor and an agent, and a regional newspaper editor have told me so. To me, this is the same as saying I'm white or I have green eyes.  It's a fact.

Now, whether I am a good novel writer (in which storytelling is just as or even more important than the writing), or whether I'm a good writer compared to JK Rowling or Stephen King or Neil Gaiman, I don't know.

But I do know the difference between you're and your, their, there, and they're, its and it's, and all those other writer pet peeves (which are not necessarily my pet peeves).

I know, and yet I still catch myself messing up. My biggie is using it's instead of its. It's (ha) like my fingers just love typing that apostrophe.

I've forgotten how to spell 'all' (I was trying to spell it out like it sounded... a-w-l in my slightly-Southern-tinged pronunciation).

My comma usage is far from standard.

And somehow, even though the writing community is one of the most welcoming and least catty I've been a part of, I'm surprised by the amount of Ugh! I can't believe they don't know that [insert writing mistake - or maybe not - here] I see.

And if you're guilty of this, don't feel like I'm aiming this at you. I'm not writing this to call out or tear anyone down. I'm sure I've been guilty of it at some point, too.

People have a right to their pet peeves. I have them, trust me. But it's important to remember that just because someone spells definitely "defiantly" or "definately" or says "for all intensive purposes" instead of for all intents and purposes or uses impact as a verb doesn't mean their there they're a bad writer.

(The above is not a poorly-concealed list of my pet peeves, by the way, but several more biggies I've noticed batted around the blogosphere.)

Just because someone uses commas wrong doesn't mean they're a bad writer.

Just because someone does something that makes you crazy when you see it in print doesn't mean they're a bad writer.

Just because someone uses just way too many times in a blog post doesn't make them a bad writer.

Just something I've been thinking about.

;)