Bad habits

What a week.  It's wet, cold and dreary.  This weather is making everyone crazy, ill tempered, irritable.  Work and home are all over the place, add school into the mix, and there is no time to think.  I haven't made it to the gym in several weeks, my relaxing "therapy" time spent with my sewing machine has been cut short recently and with no outlet, it's all building up.  But onward we go.

Let's see what's on the agenda for school this week.  In Drama I had the Module 2 exam and our first major project which is a movie critique.  I chose Singin' in the Rain and I am watching it for the third time this week.  The problem is, I enjoy the movie and have to keep reminding myself to watch it for the items needed in the critique - camera angles, props, scenery, etc. and not just for the enjoyment of watching Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds dance together.  We are in Module #4 for Economics and I think I finally have the formula to calculate real GDP from nominal GDP.  And then there is Technical Writing.  We are approaching the time for peer reviews and have been looking at constructive criticism and what can be learned and taught with peer reviews.  I'm used to having colleagues review my documents at work and although those don't require an intense review, I am not too concerned with giving or receiving peer reviews for the class.  There is always something to be learned and having another perspective can be helpful in clarifying your original thoughts and writing.

The blog prompt this week is about bad writing habits.  Do I have a bad writing habit?  Should I change it?  Why or why not?  I'm sure we all have bad writing habits.  And what one person might consider a bad writing habit may be another's best writing habit.  Since most of my writing is brief, professional communication, I don't outline and plan what I am going to write.  I basically skip the first step of the writing process of gathering information, making notes, research and organization and just start writing.  I read and edit quickly and am able to complete the document and move on to the next.  Even with these blog posts, I don't think too much about what I'm going to write - I just start typing, read and edit as I go along.  Should I change this habit?  Maybe.  If I were doing an essay or more in depth project, skipping that first step would likely lead to a jumbled mess with the writing that would be difficult to edit and revise.  Do I need to outline a memo to the file about an asset that we purchased?  No, it's sufficient to start writing immediately, editing and revising as I go along and doing a final sweep of the entire document before publishing.  Is this a bad writing habit?  Possibly.  Is it going to change?  Probably not.  Does it work for me?  Yes and right now that's enough.  Because as always, there is too much to do.