Blatant typos irritate me, and I vowed to only post something after proofreading it. Once I've finished the post, I run it through a spell checker, then use Grammarly to check it for grammar and punctuation. At first, I wouldn't say I liked it when the checker said I was only at 85% readability. But now, I strive to do it with nearly 100% readability. So yes, spell and grammar checking is a must.
Great reminder--thanks! I pride myself (as a professional writer on my day job) to produce error-free copy, and today, when I published my Moroccan tree goats post, I had “vile” instead of “vial” of argan oil, until my friend quickly pinged me, bless her😊. I think I’ll have to run a tighter copy edit ship and use some software.
Back when I was writing for a video game review rag, I made a point of taking some time to edit my piece before kicking it off to the editor. Admittedly a good amount of this was pragmatism, since I found a strong inverse correlation between headaches given to my editor and ease of our working relationship. Plus my deadlines were pretty lax.
Now that I'm writing pieces for my Substack all these years later, I'm having to fight the urge to over-edit. lol
There is one magazine I refuse to write for because nearly every article is badly written or contains errors that suggest the writer is illiterate, or both. It is clearly poorly edited, and I don't want to be tainted by association. Is that too judgemental of me?
I know for sure I have a really bad typo or two in every issue without exception, and it’s not for lack of reading 4-5 times both on screen before I hit send. I think it is really not possible find all the errors in your own work.
That said, yes this absolutely degrades the perception of how trustworthy your newsletter is and I love the idea that we owe it to each other to do our best to help uplift the overall Substack reputation.
I appreciate the idea of listening to the issue as well as reading before I hit send as another line of defense. Did not think of that!
The perfect read (reminder) as I embark on a self-imposed 30-day writing sabbatical to clean up and improve the quality of my Substack pub. I sincerely appreciate this post!
True and valid point. My motto has always been it is important to be error-free but not at the expense of consistency. Learn from mistakes but don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
Writing a post on Google Docs or even Word doc can help with spotting the errors. Grammarly is also a good tool. And Hemingway will help you spot passive voice and hard-to-read sentences.
Omg Michael I feel you may be writing this just to me although I usually only post comments but find I’m way too sloppy sometimes in this department. Thanks for the much needed reminder.
While I agree with the sentiment of your post, I don't think that a writer can always be error-free. I've read plenty of books with typos and misspellings. It happens even after multiple editors and proofreaders peruse the word.
As a creative writing instructor in my past life, I used to be hard-nosed about grammar and all (within the constraints of my grammatical ability - I am not perfect); however, as I've aged and helped a variety of writers, I feel like that angle can cause creative blocks. Indeed, I will point out significant issues with grammar and structure, but the occasional typo or comma usage error will pass through my filter (noticed but not with alarm bells).
Lately I've been sending myself a test-email in order to review before posting. It does help to see the post as readers will. I've found all sorts of potentially embarrassing bits this way!
Now I know why you liked my Neal DeGrasse Tyson remark in the comments section of a different post.<she is “smiling when she says that.”> BTW, I view comments on most strings as spoken English rather than prose. Perhaps I should be more careful. Looking forward to reading more.
Blatant typos irritate me, and I vowed to only post something after proofreading it. Once I've finished the post, I run it through a spell checker, then use Grammarly to check it for grammar and punctuation. At first, I wouldn't say I liked it when the checker said I was only at 85% readability. But now, I strive to do it with nearly 100% readability. So yes, spell and grammar checking is a must.
Great reminder--thanks! I pride myself (as a professional writer on my day job) to produce error-free copy, and today, when I published my Moroccan tree goats post, I had “vile” instead of “vial” of argan oil, until my friend quickly pinged me, bless her😊. I think I’ll have to run a tighter copy edit ship and use some software.
There's some great software out there too! Pro Writing aid does more than just pick up typos, which I've always been grateful for in the past...
Back when I was writing for a video game review rag, I made a point of taking some time to edit my piece before kicking it off to the editor. Admittedly a good amount of this was pragmatism, since I found a strong inverse correlation between headaches given to my editor and ease of our working relationship. Plus my deadlines were pretty lax.
Now that I'm writing pieces for my Substack all these years later, I'm having to fight the urge to over-edit. lol
There is one magazine I refuse to write for because nearly every article is badly written or contains errors that suggest the writer is illiterate, or both. It is clearly poorly edited, and I don't want to be tainted by association. Is that too judgemental of me?
I know for sure I have a really bad typo or two in every issue without exception, and it’s not for lack of reading 4-5 times both on screen before I hit send. I think it is really not possible find all the errors in your own work.
That said, yes this absolutely degrades the perception of how trustworthy your newsletter is and I love the idea that we owe it to each other to do our best to help uplift the overall Substack reputation.
I appreciate the idea of listening to the issue as well as reading before I hit send as another line of defense. Did not think of that!
The perfect read (reminder) as I embark on a self-imposed 30-day writing sabbatical to clean up and improve the quality of my Substack pub. I sincerely appreciate this post!
Yessssss to all of this
It’s a good reminder! Thank you!
True and valid point. My motto has always been it is important to be error-free but not at the expense of consistency. Learn from mistakes but don’t be afraid of making mistakes.
I've been writing in Notion lately with Grammarly installed to help find simple errors
Writing a post on Google Docs or even Word doc can help with spotting the errors. Grammarly is also a good tool. And Hemingway will help you spot passive voice and hard-to-read sentences.
Omg Michael I feel you may be writing this just to me although I usually only post comments but find I’m way too sloppy sometimes in this department. Thanks for the much needed reminder.
While I agree with the sentiment of your post, I don't think that a writer can always be error-free. I've read plenty of books with typos and misspellings. It happens even after multiple editors and proofreaders peruse the word.
As a creative writing instructor in my past life, I used to be hard-nosed about grammar and all (within the constraints of my grammatical ability - I am not perfect); however, as I've aged and helped a variety of writers, I feel like that angle can cause creative blocks. Indeed, I will point out significant issues with grammar and structure, but the occasional typo or comma usage error will pass through my filter (noticed but not with alarm bells).
Lately I've been sending myself a test-email in order to review before posting. It does help to see the post as readers will. I've found all sorts of potentially embarrassing bits this way!
A solid post here, Michael--thank you!
Now I know why you liked my Neal DeGrasse Tyson remark in the comments section of a different post.<she is “smiling when she says that.”> BTW, I view comments on most strings as spoken English rather than prose. Perhaps I should be more careful. Looking forward to reading more.