Writers Can Suck at Spelling

Here’s why you shouldn’t let that stop you.

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Hi, my name is Zach, and my spelling sucks.

(To prove that to you, I’m going to keep a tally on a post-it note of how many times I have to use spell-check while writing this post. I’ll tell you how it goes at the end — and there’s one. I had to Google whether or not spell-check is hyphenated. The answer? It’s basically a shrug emoji.)

In case you’re new around here, I’m also a writer. Finished a novel, and written a good chunk of the way through a few others. I’ve got bylines on BroadwayWorld and NewMusicalTheatre; I interned for a literary agent and for a college literary journal. I edited my high school newspaper for 3.5 years, including two years as editor-in-chief. I help run a writing community nearly 20,000 people strong. I started writing on EzBoard RPGs when I was eleven, and started writing poetry not much later.

My spelling is better than it was 16 years ago. But my spelling still sucks.

In Ninja Writers, we have a lot of people who are very new to the craft of writing. And one of the things I often hear, from them and in everyday life from people who aren’t writers, is that they’re worried about their spelling and grammar aren’t good enough.