Punctuation is Overrated

I love writing.

And I’ll brag that I’m a good writer.

I’ve been journaling since I was 10. I have shelves of journals. The writing that is in there flows and is relaxed. In my journals, I have a rhythm and voice that feels genuine.

I’ve found though that my English classes and the internal grammar police can get in the way of writing to share. Writing to get an idea out. Writing that will be public.

I have a lot of ideas that I want to share. I want to give voice to my experiences so that other women may feel less alone in theirs. So that they may find courage to use their voice. So that this world actually will have a chance to listen and right itself.

So, I’ve made a choice.

I’m choosing to write how I write in my journals. In fragments. Without commas. Without policing or grammar checking. (I still like capital letters and correct spelling. Call me old. I’m ok with that. Lol)

But perfect punctuation and grammar is overrated.

I’m choosing to write imperfectly so that I write and share at all. I am choosing to write in a way that feels good to me. That I enjoy. That is pleasurable. I’m choosing to make it simple. To get out of my own way. To have fun with it.

I am no longer allowing perfectionism to silence me.

Also, I’ve noticed that this is often a gendered thing. Men will more easily share their work. Women will wait til they and their work is perfect. And since perfection is impossible, they’re waiting a long time, and that’s WAY too long.

DARE: Press publish on the thing you’ve been sitting on. That email? The reel? That post? That website? It’s good enough, babe. In fact, it’s likely more than good enough. It’s likely phenomenal! And when you do publish, please send it to me. I’d love to see it, and celebrate the f*ck out of you!

P.S. With the increase in generative AI used for writing, I see allowing mistakes as rebellion. As a way to embrace being human. As a way to let you know I’m real. For the record, I don’t use AI for content creation, or anything if I can help it at this point. More on that later…