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Friday, June 10, 2011

(By the Way)

I’m aware that I use a lot of parenthetical phrases in my writing (to either clarify what I’ve written or briefly digress from the topic). Not sure why I do it, but it seems to be the way my thinking works. And sometimes they’re probably not needed (like right now) but I can’t seem to help myself. Maybe it’s the way my brain is always over analyzing everything (I’ve already revised this post three times).

My husband would probably say that I always have an additional comment (if I’m honest, criticism) about everything and rarely let him have the last word (although he speaks up way more than I do in group/classroom settings…love you, hon :)). It’s as if I’m always trying to get one last detail (opinion) out there before I finish my thought. Or maybe I’m just trying (usually not succeeding) too hard to be clever or funny. I do have a tendency to editorialize a bit (endlessly).  It’s probably most accurately explained by the fact that my brain is going in multiple directions pretty much all of the time (courtesy of my husband-, child-, pregnancy-, career-, and most recently coupon clipping-filled life) and so even my sentences have pretty regular digressions. I’m pretty fond of commas and em dashes too (when they’re used correctly); and technically, parentheses de-emphasize text while em dashes bring focus (I guess I prefer subtlety). Now that I’ve recognized my problem, maybe I can try to minimize it (or just embrace my quirks and let the side comments continue to fly).   

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