It is hard for me to admit that my grammar has reeked lately. I’ve been a writer all my life and for me to publicly admit that my grammar has been poor is not easy.

In high school, my senior English teacher would tell us that they best way to practice writing is to just write. To practice good grammar meant to write grammatically well. She encouraged us to keep a journal and to write something everyday. To her, in order to write well, we had to write. Of course, that meant following basic grammatical rules, not writing like a slob.

Sad to say, I’ve gotten away from keeping my eye on the grammatical ball. While blogging has pushed me to write, it has lead me away from “doing it well.” Internet writing, sadly to say, is not professionalized enough for writers to keep up their skill levels. On the internet, it is a place to throw up ideas and thoughts without giving much thought to how it is written.

I’ve fallen into the anti-grammar trap.

I need to crawl my way out.

Effectively, that means more writing, practicing and studying proper and useful grammar. This will require better use of my time so my writing can become stronger, again. Proper writing and good grammar were once stalwarts of my life; they’ve become a distant memory. It is time to fix it.

Admittedly, this all sounds a little “goofy.” For me to complain that my grammar is shot does sound a little off-kilter. Yet, this is important to me. I need to get back on the horse and become a better writer … again.