Starting a blog, attempt #234 (This one's going to take; I can feel it!)

I don't often like books written in letter form; they're usually lacking any real substance, and they seem like an easy way for a person with little talent to be able to write a story. However, I wasn't more than a few pages into The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when I was already telling co-workers that they had to read this new book.

The main character, Juliet, has a love for books and an endearing charm and wit that quickly draws in a reader. The story mostly consists of the post-WWII correspondence between Juliet and a literay society from Guernsey, her publisher, and a few friends. Some of the letters are short and direct; others are more rambling, with the details, description, and dialogue more reminiscient of a novel. All of them are useful in revealing character or driving plot.

Though I can think of a few reasons - laugh-out-loud humor, wonderful characters, great writing, classic book discussion - I can't exactly explain why I liked this book so much. I guess it's just a well-written, light-hearted book, injected with humor , biblophilia, and quirky characters; it's a wonderful lazy-day read, and who doesn't need one of those now and then?

A little red ink, if you please.

I'm an editor. It's a big part of who I am - an obsessive character trait I carry with me in all my travels. I'll edit anything and everything I read - from a bumper sticker on a car to a novel to a research paper. In most cases, I don't even realize I'm doing it until I start reaching for my red pen.

There's one thing I can't edit, though, and that's my own writing... the unfortunate problem with that is I'm not a very good writer. It's odd to me that I can get so hot under the collar when I see someone write "That is it's problem," but I can still come up with a sentence like "I have many favorite author's," without blinking an eye. What the heck is that?!!

Earlier today, someone mentioned to me that they read my blog. Since I haven't posted since September and, therefore, couldn't really remember the contents of my blog, I came to see what they had just read. I was horrified! Elementary grammatical mistakes were littered throughout everything I'd written! Misplaced apostrophes, the simplest words spelled incorrectly, omitted commas, sentences that made absolutely no sense at all - I'd have run out of ink if I'd tried to mark it up with my beloved red pen. I couldn't stand it, and I went through and edited the many mistakes that initially caught my eye, despite the fact that it's 2:30 in the morning.

If I could adequately convey to you the revulsion I feel about my misdeeds, I'd be a fine writer indeed. Hypocrisy is one of the sins I despise the most, so imagine how it feels for me to admit that the editor needs an editor.