Spelling errors

[image error]Its embarrassing and unprofessional.  When you pick up a book, whether from a major author or from an independent author, you expect something polished for the money you spend.  And spelling errors can mar an otherwise wonderful book.

One of my friends recently picked up one of my books and alerted me of the existence of some spelling errors.  Now, i'm not trying to make excuses.  I read and re-read and re-read each story several times before I publish to look for spelling and grammatical errors.  And sometimes, unfortunately, when you don't have an exclusive editor reading with fresh eyes, things slip through the cracks.  Its unfortunate, to say the least.

Spell check on most word processing programs is a major problem and we have become lazy because of it.  We don't know how to spell anymore, and I feel bad for English teachers out there that have to read in-class essays.  But I digress.

Unfortunately, spell checkers don't always pick out those misspelled words if they are not really misspelled , but instead different words with a single letter wrong, like duck and duct.  If they are the same part of speech, then the grammar check will not tell you anything is wrong, either.

An author's stories, especially during edits, can be somewhat of an optical illusion.  When I proof read, though I look for spelling errors (and often find them) I am usually more concerned with the flow and concepts.   I remember an oldoptical illusion, a six-sided star with several segments missing and Pacman-like circles at the ends.  Its not really a star at all, but just several lines and partial circles.  But because of the length and angle of the lines and the circles, our brains are able to interpret what we are seeing as a star.  We "see" the missing lines because its what we expect to see.  Well, proof reading causes the same type of reaction in the brain.  Even if a word is spelled wrong, and even if the meaning is completely changed from what we meant, our brains don't always notice because it is our own work and we read what we EXPECT to read when we proof.  There are simply times when we'll read "The duct climbed out of the pond" and not notice the spelling error because our minds simply assume the word duck because it is what we are experting.  Its what makes sense in relation to the other words in the sentence and the theme of the sentence.

Just like we don't really see those lines in a but and assume they are there  because it's what makes sense based on the context of what we do see.  Anyone reading a story for the first time is more sensitive to mistakes because they have no expectations, but for me, well, my eyes feel like they are going to bleed after reading the same stuff over and over again.

Anyway, to any of my readers who may be upset or disappointed by spelling errors, I will make sure I go over future stuff with a fine-toothed comb to ensure that spelling errors are as dead as the dodo.

But if anyone out there did notice spelling errors, I hope they didn't take away from your enjoyment.