The drawback to being read is that people actually read what you write and they notice mistakes that you make. Heaven forbid they realize that you are human.

And that’s just fine with me. Making mistakes is not fine with me, but I do appreciate those readers who take the time to write and make me aware of the occasional (or not so occasional) typographical error, forgotten apostrophe, or incorrectly conjugated verb. Sometimes the brain gets ahead of the fingers and the fingers simply remain behind. I’ve found that these volunteer proofreaders and readers are, for the most part, very gracious. One of them is even a distant relative.

Proofreading (from my perspective) needs to be done to verify factual content, to operate within generally accepted grammar parameters, and to remain readable.

These blog posts are written sans proofreader and some days they don’t sit very long in the queue before they run live. Unlike some bloggers, I don’t preschedule posts. I don’t block out content ideas or have some grand overarching set of goals for this blog. I simply write about what I’m working on at any point in time. It really is that simple.

A note: Don’t let a fear of being proofread cause you to not write about your genealogy research. Writing is one of the best ways to strengthen your research. One of the best ways to proofread what you write is to let it sit for at least twenty-four hours before you go over it. No matter how many times you review something, there will always be the chance that an error creeps in.

There are two ways to avoid errors when writing:

  • don’t write
  • don’t be human

Those are your options.

 

Share

Categories:

Tags:

One response

  1. The only times I ever correct is a year date or a name. Having made both those mistakes myself more than once I figure the writer is reading what he expects to see instead of what he is really seeing. Like the internet tests that go around that are written without any vowels. We have no trouble reading them.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Genealogy Tip of the Day Book
Recent Comments