Always, always reread what you write before you consider it finished--even when that first draft DOESN'T show up on your computer monitor with squiggly red and green underlining. Automated spelling and grammar checkers are not foolproof, and they do not take the place of human judgment.

Wow, headline news, you might be thinking while executing a dramatic sarcastic eye roll. I know it's obvious. But I'm saying this anyway because it's a fact I see proven over and over again and, somehow, a lesson that we collectively still don't learn.

An unnoticed error can be confusing. Take, for instance, one I dealt with a couple weeks ago. The writing in question included a recipe that listed this ingredient: "3/4 c. mild." A word appeared to be missing, so the question was, of course, "Mild WHAT?" As it turned out, nothing was missing. "Mild" was an error brought on by bad typing. It should have been "milk."

Uncorrected errors can also be embarrassing. Time and again, newspapers have been pilloried for spelling errors in names. These misspellings are more than just unfortunate; they can reflect badly on a publication's or writer's credibility or even be the basis of lawsuits when they occur in highly-sensitive items such as obituaries and crime reports.

Errors can contribute to lost opportunities, too, as anyone who has later discovered an inaccuracy or omission in his own resumé will attest.

Don't get me wrong. Computer software is a... Click here to read the rest of this post at the Sunny Words Blog.

The Sunny Words Blog is authored by VAF member AnnaLisa of Sunny Words Writing Services.


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