My Achilles Heel

English is beautiful and expressive. The alphabet is nice and streamlined. The vocabulary collects words from multiple cultures and nations. (Yes, I'm biased. It's my native language.)

I love reading. I love writing stories that work with English grammar and rhythm. I HATE English spelling.

I was born to English speaking parents, in an English speaking culture. That is the only reason I have half a hope on spelling anything longer than three letters (English language learners, you have my highest respect).

Grade school was an nightmare. I had A's in grammar and reading - C's and low B's in spelling. Mom tried everything - phonetic rules, flashcards, repetition drills. I could read a printed word, sound it out; but ask me to spell 'Wednesday' or 'money'... well, I broke the homeschooler spelling bee stereotype, soundly.

Surprising, I'm not dyslexic. My bad spelling is product of living in the Midwest U.S.A. and mental laziness.

I grew up at a crossroads zone. Texas drawl, Ozark twang, Southern lilt, Mexican and Asian accents – I've heard “Pecan” spoken four different ways at one family reunion. Phonetics are more like guidelines out here.

My own accent switches, depending on the people and situation. (That's another other blog post right there.) Is it any wonder I can't just sound it out or look up the word in the dictionary? Start adding those lovely foreign words like 'faux' and 'sayonara', I'm done - Game Over. I'll write down something that makes sense at that moment.

Luckily, I was born in the early area of spellchecker and autocorrect. It didn't save my report card, but it was a HUGE help in college. I could focus on putting my ideas/notes on paper and then polish the draft in a word document.

My poor spelling sense is here to stay. I have a few hundred common words memorized and for the rest I just do my best. Does it make it hard for people to take my draft works seriously? Yes. Is it going to stop me writing? No, I view it as talking with a lisp. It's a problem only if people are being uptight.

I love storytelling more than I hate working around my weakness in English spelling.