Wishing for Do-Overs

I just read a blog post, Learn From Others' Mistakes: What Non-Best-Selling Writers Can Teach You on the Cute Writing creative writing tips blog I’ve recently begun following, and added to the links list. In the spirit of that message, I’m sharing selected humorous bloopers that just arrived in an e-mail. Although a good laugh is as good for your body as your spirit, that's not my primary reason for this list. I’m sharing it because things like this can slip into our writing as easily as speech, and they are easy to overlook when editing.

These purportedly are true comments made by sports commentators during the just-concluded Olympics. I'm pretty sure that I've seen most before, but whatever the original source, court-testimony quality validity isn't as important as the message.

• Dressage commentator: “This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother.”

• Paul Hamm, Gymnast: “I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.”

• Boxing Analyst: “Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious.”

• Softball announcer: “If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again.”

• Tennis commentator: “One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them ... Oh my God, what have I just said?”

Let this serve as a reminder to have someone else read your work before you commit it to final copy and not to take yourself too seriously — those commentators have lifted the spirits of millions of people.

Some bloopers are funny and others are pretty awful. But unless repeating them would be cruel or hurtful, including an embarrassing moment or two in your stories keeps them real and honest sounding.

Write now: about an embarrassing occasion when your tongue moved faster than your mind. It may be funny or not.