My Comma Crisis

OK, so, this is, on the grand scheme of problems, about as serious as that time I asked for spicy cheese on my subway and they gave me american cheese. That time I decided not to say anything, because, y'know, the decision had been made and since it was trivial, there was little left for me to waste my time on.

See, this here, is about as serious as that, because, this is the crisis I am going through right now, and it is all about abusing commas. Of course, here I am playing it up for emphasis, (EMPHASIS!), but nonetheless, it is something I want to cut down on. Mainly because I have to write an essay by hand, again, this summer, for my final exams, which is something I haven't had to do since, oh I dunno, this time last year, in those exams.

See, the first time I write any essay it always ends up being a jumble of loosely formed thoughts, sometimes with an actual academic point, other times involving words that have been misspelled and misstyped, and then, during my second stage of essay writing, I tidy everything up and it starts to look like, totally, some actual, real, academic thoughts instead of the demented livejournal twilight fanfiction of a thirteen year old girl living in California.

And one of the reasons for this is my use of commas when I don't actually have an end for a sentence planned. And it makes my work read amateur. And I, totally, hate that. I am definitely the sort of person who begins a sentence and then thinks up where it will end whilst speaking. It almost always works out fine... although sometimes it means that... I end up trailing off... as I realise.. I have nothing left to say... because... of...

Damn, did it again.

Long story rapidly coming to an end, while reaching the point where it can't be called a 'short story', I want to avoid this this summer. And so I have been paying more attention to how I use commas in my essays. I will probably dump the spare ones over here, so consider yourself warned.