Reading Response #11

Chapter 2 of Steering the Craft was very inspirational for me. The author's is opposed to people who are over critical of other people's speech, and I feel the same. While I feel I do a manageable job at speaking and writing clearly, I know I do not always follow the rules. I understand the importance of appearing intelligent in scholarly endeavors, but I don't think someone's ideas should be discounted because they are presented in a less-than-clear manner. Sometimes I over-edit papers because I am anxious there may be some minor errors that my examiner will notice and moan over. Hopefully there is some truth in my favorite quote from the chapter, "people who don't worry at least a little about semicolons aren't likely to be writer" (34). I worry about them, constantly.