I don’t leave comments online often, but when I do, I try my best to ensure that my observations are tactful, coherent, and grammatically correct. As a non-traditional college student in the late 90s, I received an English department certificate for excellence in expository prose. I guess I still feel obligated to meet the expectations implied in that award.

Usually, I’ll write a comment in response to a Facebook thread or news article, and then edit it forever until I decide it’s good enough to publish. But once in a while (not often) I’ll respond to a Facebook thread and give it a quick glance before hitting “enter”. When I read the published post two seconds later, I realize the comment isn’t quite right. I might not have said what I really wanted to say. Or I might have misspelled a word or left out a punctuation mark. Sometimes I’ll just edit the post. More likely, I’ll delete it, rewrite it or correct the error, and repost.

I’m just as picky about my blogs. I’ll write 250–500 words, and then edit them forever until I’m convinced that the content is presentable for publication. That’s why my blog posts are sometimes so far between (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it).

As a student, I always had the urge to rewrite essay questions on exams. However, I took so long writing the initial essay that I had no time to look over any part of the exam, let alone rewrite anything. Writing academic reports and research papers was worse. I would write, and rewrite, and rewrite again, and then stay up all night editing the final copy because the paper was due the next day.

I’m so glad I no longer have to write academic reports or research papers. And I try to limit my blog posts to 500 words max. But there is that major NaNoWriMo project that I’m revising . . .