WHAT I SAY TO MEAN

A few moments ago, a friend sent me an email talking about a variety of things and, in passing, mentioned a typo in one of my blog entries.

I had read that particular entry at least a dozen times, but never saw the flaw...and it was egregious (it's fixed now).

Amy can read what I write and almost instantly come back with a list of typos, grammar and punctuation problems for me to fix.

I don't obsess over what I write, but I do use a meager spell checker. I read over each entry at least several times looking for mistakes or ways to phrase things more clearly. I'll admit to giving myself some leeway when it comes to punctuation...I will fall back on the catch all of "poetic license" in that regard. Yet, big mistakes- typos, duplicate or dropped words - still slip by me....all the time.

Please, make no mistake about this; I'm thankful when people point them out.

I make my living in part correcting other people's writing. Each morning when I arrive at the office, the first thing I do is go through perhaps 50 news stories and spot the errors. This is a process that normally takes me only a minute or two.

Why is it when it comes to what I write, I can read the same thing over and over again and not see the glaring mistakes?

I suppose it's because I know what I mean to say and my mind overlooks the mistakes because it's more focused on the message.

Still it got me thinking how true this is in other areas of my life.

I am often quick to see the faults and failings of others.

I am too often blind to my own.