Good Writing Requirs Good Speling And Grama!

“Who could have sent me this terrible email, and what did they want?” I thought to myself! Was this person some kind of jokester or was this a practical joke of some kind?
The email was sent to me by a fellow named Orley (who I didn’t know), and he told me that he lived in the panhandle of Florida near the Alabama state line. Orley told me in his email, that he was concerned about his website, his spelling and grammar, and he wanted somebody to go to his website and critique it, and give him advice as to how to improve it, etc.
Over the short time I had been online, there have been many people who have helped me in a variety of ways, so I decided to go to Orley’s website to see how I could help him. And, from what I saw of that email…Orley NEEDED HELP! He told me he wanted to go into business for himself, but he was not going to get very far with emails that looked like the one he sent me! At this point, I still didn’t know if I was dealing with a jokester but, I went to pay a visit to his website anyway.
There, I found a pretty nice looking website, with a thing or two wrong, but nothing major. A nice Front Page, with links and buttons to different places, etc. Judging from that first dreadful email he sent me, somebody must have helped him put up his website. The website was not bad at all. I didn’t see much of anything I could report back to him, with respect to errors on his website.
And besides, I’m not an editor or a grammarian. In college, I was not an English, journalism, or communications major. And yes, I did complete two correspondence writing courses in my 40’s, and by doing so, it helped me improve my writing skills and gave me the confidence to continue with my ambitions in writing. I think all of us just do our best when it comes to writing, after all, we’re dealing with the English language…which is all “Greek” to me!
I really didn’t know how to handle the situation with Orley, but I thought honesty would be the best policy. But, I had to be encouraging and supportive of him. Constructive criticism was the name of the game and I told him in a return email:
1) Website building is publishing, and if a person is going to be in the publishing business on the Internet, which shows your work all over the world, your work has to be your best! Like a resume or job interview, first impression is everything! Your website, Orley, was acceptable, but you probably had help with it.
2) Your first email to me was awful and I almost deleted it! It was riddled with spelling and grammar errors and was just plain unprofessional and ugly! What kind of a first impression would this make? Unless you take action to improve this, nobody will return your emails, and I’m sorry to say that you won’t make it in business or anything else!
Unprofessional emails, riddled with spelling and grammar errors will be your downfall…I don’t care how nice your website looks. Communicating well with customers and visitors will be a way of life for you, Orley. You MUST improve your writing skills if you are to succeed!
3) Orley, you have won a couple of big battles right away. You have been honest with yourself…and that’s a big step forward. Many people are not honest with themselves…they’re in denial about such things in their lives as alcohol; drugs; temper, etc. And, you know you have a problem, and you’ve gone out to get some help! Not only have you gone out and asked for help, but you went to a total stranger, and that takes courage, my friend! You WANT to improve yourself, and all of these things are big pluses for you. You’ve taken a couple of big steps and you’re off to a good start!
4) You’ll have to pay your dues, Orley, just like everybody else has done! There’s no free lunch! I took three writing courses (in my 40’s) to try to improve my writing skills. You’re going to have to go back to the books…go back to square one, and try to refresh your memory. As all of us get older, we forget what we learned in school. Writing courses are expensive, so I don’t suggest you do that, unless you can afford it. But, you can go to the library; buy a book on English; or take a course at a local community college if there is one in your area. You have a spell-checker…use it! And, if you don’t have one, you’ll have to download one or do it the hard way!
I know I’m a little tough on you, Orley, but your work is out there in front of the whole world…and, because of this, you have to be at your best.