I Can’t Spell!

The Story Behind My Story

Part #3: Spelling is Hard

By now, you know that the Story Behind My Story includes the fact that I had (and still continue to have) difficulties with dyslexia, as well as a lack of talent when it came to drawing. If you haven’t read Part #1 yet, give it a quick read HERE.

But, to top it all off, there was also this:

I’m absolutely awful when it comes to spelling and grammar.

Which, if you’re reading this, you may be thinking to yourself:

“Bitsy, this actually reads very well! It sure doesn’t seem like you have this problem!”

Well, that’s because, like I said before, my lovely husband does quite a bit of my editing for me. He does so across this blog, as well as the published versions of my books and other stuff. So, if you see something that seems a bit misspelt, or something like that, you can safely assume that he hasn’t gotten around to fixing it yet.

As you can also safely assume, attempting to become an author when you can’t write very well, and reading itself is very difficult, isn’t exactly the easiest task to accomplish. That was me! Still is in many ways. You can actually still catch many of my mistakes and mishaps in the hiatus part of my main story, where I posted an Elder Scrolls short story I wrote. [You can read that HERE]

What was pleasantly surprising though, is how well received my story Maiden in Disguise has been despite many of the errors I made in the literal writing of it. Of course, there are always the big meanie-heads that leave negative comments for no other reason than doing so, but overall the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

Looking back on it now, it seems crazy that MiD began as an almost half-hearted attempt at “putting myself out there” in February of 2015. It just a few short months (at the time of writing this), it’ll have been four years! In that time, I’ve now completed 3 total books, with #4 likely to be finished and published by early 2019. Thankfully, with just a little bit of help, all of those finished works have little to no spelling errors or terrible grammar mistakes.

Which, I think brings me to my point of this blog post. And, yes, unlike some of my other ramblings I do have a point this time! It’s two-fold, I think:

1. If you think your stuff isn’t “good enough,” whether due to spelling, art quality, plot, or complexity . . . You’re probably just beating yourself up for no good reason. Try! Make something new and show the world. That’s more than most can admit to ever doing.
2. If your writing still makes you feel uncomfortable with sharing, get help. Seriously! If you’ve got some friends who are better than you at those things, ask if they may be willing to help you with editing. Most people are more willing to help than you expect.

And, if that doesn’t work, there’s also Grammarly:

If you don’t know about Grammarly, it’s a super awesome free (and also not-so-free) software available for both computers and smartphones. Check it HERE.

It’s probably the best thing out there for people like me, and probably even for those who don’t have the issues I do, as it catches mistakes that most people would miss. Plus, it does things almost automatically for you.

So, now when I write my stuff, I do it with the help of Grammarly as it makes my editor’s job a little easier.

And, no, for full-disclosure’s sake this is not a paid plug for Grammarly. I simply really enjoy it and I want more people to know about it.

That’s it!

I hope you have enjoyed reading more of my ramblings.

Until the next one . . .

Stay strange.