Writing | Writing Tips | Reading | Proofreading | Writers

Proofreading Matters

But Not Why You Think It Does

Proofreading is Boring, Tedious, and Time Consuming

Me, “Do it anyway.”

You, “But MaryJo, I have spellcheck and Grammarly on my computer?”

Me, “So what? Neither tool catches everything and often flags grammar and punctuation that’s fine, especially if you’re writing in a readable way for the average reader. And if you’re reading this post, that’s how you should be writing.”

“You aren’t writing an academic book, a scientific treatise, or research for a medical journal. That kind of writing has rules, often strict rules. You don’t need to follow or even know these rules.”

Why I Proofread Everything I Write and You Should Too

It’s not because I’m sloppy and not paying attention. It’s not because I didn’t read carefully as I went along. It’s not because I’m a perfectionist — although I do at times exhibit such tendencies. It’s not because I had a bad English teacher. I had an excellent English teacher in 8th grade at Gove Junior High School in Denver.

Obviously, we proofread to find spelling errors, bad grammar, awkward sentences, and so forth. We also proofread to make sure we used the correct word and didn’t leave any words out.

But writing is heard before it’s typed and read. Yes, it’s your ears that are often the reason for the errors on your screen or writing tablet. For example, assume I just wrote: “I am going their.” Really? How do you go to their? Ah, I meant “there.”

Unfortunately, when we read someone else’s writing with that mistake, we assume they’re stupid. Or they had a lousy English teacher who didn’t teach them the difference between “their,” “there,” and “they’re.”

Wrong, they aren’t stupid. Their English teacher was fine. They did learn the difference between “their,” “there,” and “they’re. But their ears heard the sound of the word, not the meaning of the word. What we type is what we hear before we see the word on our screen.

If you never make these kinds of mistakes, it’s probably because you’re a slow typist or you’re not sure what you want to write. You have to stop and think about it.

Those of us who type quickly make more mistakes that slow typists. (And I’m not talking about typos.) Those of us who know what we’re going to write about ahead of time also make more mistakes. We type “write” when we meant “right.” We’re going lickety-split as fast as our ears hear the words.

Careful proofreading is essential. I’ve argued that one should always read what they’ve written out loud. That’s for flow and readability. But your ears are in charge so good chance you’ll miss “it’s” versus “its.” Reading out loud does not take the place of proofreading.

The best proofreading is done by a friend, your high-school age daughter, even a spouse. That person doesn’t need to be a writer. By the time you’re proofreading, you’re too familiar with your own work.

By the way, one’s children, if old enough, make fabulous proofreaders. They love to find that Mom or Dad made a mistake!

My favorite auto-pilot mistake because my ears hear faster than my fingers can type is skipping a word: I might write “I dressed up the party.” Wait, I didn’t get out more balloons and streamers. What I meant was “I dressed up for the party.”

I just didn’t type fast enough and missed the word “for.” And I’m a fast typist. Often we don’t catch this error by reading out loud. Again our ears hear the missed word.

Careful proofreading will catch these mistakes because you aren’t reading for readability.

If what you’r writing is important, take the time to read what you wrote backwards! Yes, backwards. You’ll be surprised at what you find that you missed after the first two proofreading sessions.

Maybe you’d like a publication to accept your writing. You like what they publish. You think your writing is a good fit. And they pay well. This is the time to read what you wrote backwards.

Is it necessary to read every blog post backwards, especially if your goal is writing a post everyday? No, of course not.

Will the ever-vigilant Grammar Police still find something wrong? Absolutely! That’s what they live for as the rest of us live for chocolate or even a good cup of coffee.

P.S to readers: Please don’t assume when you run across a mistake that the author is a dope and should know the rules better. It’s more likely the fault of her ears and the ears of her editor and proofreader.

Watch for my forthcoming ebook, Oh Look, There’s a Squirrel and Other Stories.

I offer words of wisdom to adult ADHDers and to folks who are adopted. I am both. (Many adopted folks have ADHD, often caused from trauma at birth.)

You’ll find me at LivingWithAdoption.com. For a list of common adoption challenges, grab my free Adoption Checklist for Women: 25 Life Issues.

Given raging ADHD, it’s no surprise that focus does not come to me easily! In addition to adoption and ADHD, I also write random stories from my life, what I’ve observed, what’s in the news, about writing and editing, anything that tickles my fancy.

For a Black Lives Matter from a white perspective, see my stories For White Folks from an Old Gray-Haired White Woman with Arthritis. And Teaching Kindergarten at an all-Black school.

You might also like musings on Staying at Home because of COVID 19: The Good, The Bad, and the Not So Ugly.