WRITING
WITH DYSLEXIA
My
mother used to tease me and say I didn’t know my right from my left. She was
partially correct. And unfortunately, I didn’t find out why until I became an
adult.
It
wasn’t that I didn’t know my right from my left; it was that my brain couldn’t
process which was which unless I looked at my hands and remembered which hand I
wrote with. Thank God I’m not ambidextrous!
Typing
is also very difficult for me, even though I took typing classes and I know where the keys are. But when I
type, my mind puts the letters in the wrong order. For example: instead of
typing “the” for the, it comes out “hte” nearly every time, but when I look at
it, it seems normal to me. Some days, it seems I spend more time with my spell
check and the backspace key, than I do getting the book down on the page. If not
for spell check I wouldn’t get very far…but I’ve discovered a flaw in the
spell/grammar check recently when I posted my new Amish Romance, Jacob’s
Daughter. An acquaintance on FB informed me after reading the book that there
were two separate spots where I used the word “trails”, when I meant for it to
say “trials”. Because “trails” is a recognized word, my spell check did not
pick it up! I have since then fixed the error, despite the fact that several
hundred copies had already been sold containing the error…to those who have
that version…I apologize heartily.
How
can I write like this, you ask? Well since I type so fast, and I cheat and put
the spell-check on automatic, I can get a major portion of my writing done
fairly quickly despite my dyslexic fingers—or is it all in my head? As a matter
of fact, it has to do with vision, and how our minds interpret words, and for
some, numbers too. I, unfortunately have trouble with numbers as well. So as a
defense mechanism, I would memorize numbers, such as phone numbers, locker
combinations (yes, I still remember my phone number that we had when I was a
kid, and my locker combination from school). Nowadays, it’s addresses, license
plate numbers, etc. But ask me to count cards to play poker, and that’s
something I can’t do!
Being
a writer, I have tons of books in my head—memorized—getting them onto the
computer is the difficult part. Some days, I find myself spelling the words out
loud as I type to ensure I’m getting the words down correctly. That method
doesn’t work when I’m tired.
Since
writing is my passion, I thank God for the technology that we have today that
allows me to pursue my dream. It takes a lot of patience and hard work to write
with dyslexia, but with persistence and dedication to mastering the skill, I’ve
discovered a whole new way to use my talents for good instead of
mischief—through the written word.
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