At Plante Moran, we have a tradition where departing staff members write “green memos” to say goodbye, thank those who made an impact on them, and disclose what they’re doing next. Recently, a staff member with whom I worked closely left the firm, and she mentioned me in her memo: “Mindy Kroll — you are this firm’s secret weapon….I’ve said it a million times, I love your brain! I hand you a bag of rocks, and you turn them into diamonds.”

Nice, right? It actually made me tear up a bit. I’m a pretty humble person, and I’m not great at accepting compliments. But I do agree with the rocks into diamonds part. I sometimes refer to myself as “Mindystiltskin,” for I have the ability to convert lines of messy, questionable prose into a well-organized, understandable and—on a good day—engaging piece of writing. Something akin to gold.

So when I decided, recently, that I’d like to have my own blog, developing one around writing and grammar seemed a good fit. I had other ideas; I thought Steve and I could have our own music blog, or my friend, Lisa, and I could write about our struggles with technology or love of the 1980s. But this makes the most sense.

When I told my colleague, Dan, that I was considering this blog, his response was typically pragmatic: “You should have a blog. I should, too. It’s good for our resumes.” The next day—without any prompting from me—he designed this site for me.* (You didn’t think I did this myself, did you? Like I said earlier…technology struggles. So many technology struggles.)

This doesn’t mean I won’t occasionally write about other things. As the author of this blog, I reserve the right to write about whatever I want. I hope you enjoy it.

Word of the week: whorl

Song of the week: “Diamonds and Pearls,” by Prince