Off The Cuff
Now that I’m leaning heavily toward making this blog all about writing, I’ve been working on plans for several posts dealing with various writing topics, examples I’ve found, and personal observations I’ve made over time. I’ve also been fashioning a post for several days focusing on paid-to-post websites. It’s not done yet, because I want it to be relatively polished. I know it’s “just” a blog post, but it’s also an article of sorts. There is no editor other than me — and possibly my husband after he reads it and points out any speeling spellling spelling mistakes — and I want it to be quality.
That got me thinking about blogs in general. My writing skills go beyond my usual off-the-cuff blog posts. I know I can fashion a decent sentence, catch a run-on before it gets out of hand, punctuate properly, and create an effective argument (although that last one is debatable)(heh). However, when I’m posting in my blog(s), I’m not as concerned with sentence structure and whatnot, instead preferring to “write like I speak”, which is sometimes confusing and often unpolished. And heavily sprinkled with creative punctuation. (Seriously, if I had speech bubbles above my head when I talk, Strunk and White would roll over in their graves. That is, if they are actually dead, a fact of which I am unsure and too lazy to look up right now.)
My LiveJournal is much less formal than this blog (not that this blog has any history of formality, but by giving it the title of “writing blog”, it now bears the burden of needing to be mostly grammatically correct. I don’t want to be too hypocritical in my criticism). I deal with day-to-day stuff there, preferring to rattle stuff off and ramble if I feel like it. It’s more conversational than it is articulate, most of the time.
Now, as a writer with reasonable skill, I do play fast and loose with the rules at times, because I know the rules (for the most part) and know when to break them (again, for the most part — sometimes I take risks, sometimes I’m oblivious). For instance, I tend to have problems with subect-verb agreement. I don’t know why, it just sneaks in under the radar, or something. As a person with a relatively limited working vocabulary (as opposed to stored vocabulary), I do have my “crutch” words that I use more often than others, because, well, they’re my favorites and I’m a creature of habit. 
I tried to explore one day why my writing can be precise and enjoyable, but my more eloquent vocabulary is lacking. I think I attributed it to my habit of breaking things down into more understandable concepts for children, mainly, and adults who don’t share my particular education (scientific concepts can be confusing when you are trained in art or music, for example). As a result, the words on the forefront of my mind are not the more complicated variety. Also, my memory can be so horrible that words I know don’t even come to mind when I need them, so I use a simpler substitute in order to get the thought out. This is apparent in my day-to-day ramblings, and occasionally my ranting. Somehow, though, being flustered or passionate about something can bring out the big words I rarely use. Unfortunately, this is not always the case — sometimes, I’m just tongue-tied, and am reduced to, “Me so angry! Me SMASH!!! ARGH!!!”
My husband is much more eloquent than I am, especially when ranting. I bow to his superior verbal acuity! (Especially since he defined “acuity” for me when I asked what it meant. He rules. 
)
Going back to the original topic, a limited working vocabulary and the ability to break the rules are not excuses for a poorly-written blog article in a blog on writing. Especially since I am planning a few articles about writing poorly for publication (I’d say “print”, except that a lot of poorly-written publication is “virtual” material online). Hopefully, by the time I actually get them written, the examples I’ve chosen will still be there for everyone else to snicker at learn from.
SO, that being said, I will go and finish that article I’ve been working on for days, and have it posted . . . soon. Can’t give a definitive time, but it is almost done. I’ll probably have to break it up into another post, because there’s just so much to work with, but the first one will go up soon.
Until later!