Lily wrote about words in hard covers, Alexia talked about words in mac-wearing hardbacks, and Tommy told us of his love for crafting words.  Now it is my turn

I love words, but….

It takes me a month of Sundays to read a paragraph and two months of Sundays to write one.  The words misbehave and jump up and down the page like a naughty schoolboy.  Words with more letters than I have fingers are impossible for me to read, say or understand.  I need silence and no interruption when reading something important,

I do read books, but it can take 12 months for me to finish one, if you don’t believe me just ask Elly.

When I was young all words were committed to paper with an ink pen.  Misspelling and ink blots were there for eternity and enough to intimidate me from writing for life.  Ink blots always happened near the end of the page and if the letter or exercise was important it had to be discarded and begun all over again on a new page.  The memory of an Aunt who returned childish letters and envelopes with red correction marks on them many months after they were posted had the totally opposite effect to that which she intended.  To this day I fear a blank page.

With my introduction to computers backspacing and spellcheck became my firm friends.  No more smudges or blotches to mar my work.  The chance to make changes and correct major mistakes and move sentences or paragraphs to a more suitable place was worth more than any Lottery prize.

There are many well educated Bloggers out there whose work I look forward to and enjoy, while there are others who write in such a complicated way that I have no hope of ever understanding the message they wish to convey.  There is room for everyone and no obligation to read every blog

I have read blog posts complaining about and almost condemning bad grammar, punctuation and misspelling.  The authors never seem to realise how hurtful such a post can be, no allowance is made for the effort or indeed courage it takes for some people to hit that publish button.  Not everyone has reached or is capable of reaching A* grades.  There is room for everyone.

If everyone had a Ph.D, who would empty the bins?  There is room for everyone.

The recent story going the rounds of the Irish Blogworld of 500+ people queuing in Grafton Street, Dublin for a sales assistant vacancy in a Londis convenience store is a wake up call.  I wonder how many people in that queue had completed a university degree.  I am sure they were wishing that There is room for everyone.

UPDATE: Follow up post on this subject at Magpie’s Nest