Uptight About My Writing

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This funny little thing ( from Nanea Hoffman on Sweatpants and Coffee.com) popped up on my Facebook page yesterday and I wanted to share it. Don’t get the idea I am so compulsive about folding socks but I know some people who are compulsive about things like this and I will not mention names.

One thing that has been bugging me lately is that I have been looking for a new writing group on WordPress or elsewhere where I can contribute Flash Fiction and I found a couple of new places and I think they went out of business right after I posted some stuff. I hope I wasn’t the cause of this but it was disappointing.

Another thing is: Don’t you hate it after completing a post and thinking you have checked it thoroughly for errors and submitted it, you are reading it again and find errors, like you left out a word that totally changes the meaning of a sentence. And you didn’t notice it before.

It’s something about the brain seeing what is supposed to be there and it really isn’t. “You only thought you were reading the passage perfectly, because you automatically (and subconsciously) went back and filled in any gaps in your knowledge based on subsequent context — the words that came later.” (Live Science) from the post “Breaking the Code:

Why Yuor Barin Can Raed Tihs

The above post demonstrates how words can even be jumbled and numbers substituted for letters and we can still raed (read) the text. I was kind of hoping that a person reading my submission would automatically fill in the gaps but I did send them an email and fess up to it.

Is it because I think my writing should always be perfect? Everyone makes these kind of mistakes don’t they? What are you supposed to do if your brain is automatically correcting  errors and filling in words that aren’t there. Please tell me everything is going to turn out just fine.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda G Hill. “Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “fine.” Use it any way you’d like, bonus points if you use it as the last word of your post. Have fun!” GIFs via Giphy.com. Featured image by www_slon_pics on Pixabay.com

 

32 thoughts on “Uptight About My Writing”

    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      Glad to hear I’m not the only one. I think I stretched the science a little..my brain is thinking the word or the correct spelling but it does not always get onto the page. Geez. Thank you, Tanya. ❤

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  3. JoAnna

    That Anxiety Blob Fact is really helpful. I’ve been irritated by bossy people more lately. I don’t know if it’s because they are more bossy or I’m more irritable, but I will consider anxiety as the underlying culprit. As far as missing errors, it helps if I read it allowed. Ha! Aloud. (I didn’t plan that.) SOC and all. But reading aloud doesn’t always work. I find most of my errors after I hit publish.

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    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      The anxiety explanation was very good and it does make sense. Yes, if words are homophones it is hard and the computer will not catch it. Well I could try reading aloud because when I am reading to myself my brain is filling in for the omissions or other errors at times. Thank you, Jo Anna. 🙂

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    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      This latest episode really has bugged me because I re-read a short story I wrote and did not see the errors before submitting it for a contest. So I have researched it a bit more and found out this is pretty common and almost expected when we are reading our own writing. I just finished a post for Insecure Writers Support Group to come out this Wednesday March 7 about some good tools for proofreading I found online. Maybe these will help get rid of those aggravating mistakes. Thank you, Barbara, for letting me know I am not alone. 🙂

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      1. ghostmmnc

        I know when we enter something, we want it to be perfect! One thing I heard of, and I do this a lot, is to read your piece from the bottom to the top. That way you’re able to spot a few spelling errors, and little things like that.

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  8. Jami Carder

    I’m taking a statistics class online and my brain is acting that way with numbers. I’ve never confused them before, so I’m attributing it to me going back to school with a MUCH older brain. Drives me crazy when I do poorly on an exam because I typed 0.2 instead of 0.02!

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    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      It’s really frustrating when you knew the right answer and accidentally wrote the wrong one. And a lot of times tests are very time limited. I would say go back and check your answers if possible. It sounds like you still know your stuff but the test is not reflecting it. Used to be you could get credit for showing your work too.

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  9. joey

    Oh my goodness. I am obsessive about the folding of towels, so yeah.
    Anyway, Yes, I hate it when the moment I click Publish I see an error. I get to where I can’t read it anymore, like I just can’t see it for what it is anymore. Over and over I read until it’s all a blur. It happens to me at work, too. Ugh.

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    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      It is very common I am learning. It is frustrating for sure. I have been getting tips and reading up on proofreading and learning that our brains have a tendency to overlook stuff. I know I have my routines about doing something a certain way too. My husband has the towel folding thing.

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    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      Maybe cry 😉 Do you use editors and/or have you tried Grammarly. I just signed up for the free edition and it would not have caught the error I made in my short story. Wonder if the premium edition of Grammarly worth it. Thank you, Susan. 🙂

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  11. cleemckenzie

    I keep telling myself that my anxiety is simply the overwhelming desire to write good. I like self-deception. And I know I should have used well instead of good, but I’m tired of editing and trying to catch all my mistakes.

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    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      Ha,ha. I know what you mean! I just installed Grammarly and used it on a couple of posts and Yikes! I think it will help with me overlooking stuff and looks like I am very bad with not using enough commas. And it is correcting my comment right now. Too bad! I will stick with some of my own words. 😀 Thank you, C Lee.

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  12. Pingback: About Those Pesky Mistakes In Writing | Notes Tied On The Sagebrush

  14. tidalscribe

    I never wrote words all jumbled up when I had only pen and paper – I couldn’t actually read my handwriitng, but I’m pretty sure the letters were in the right order. On the keyboard our brain thinks ahead of our fingers and as you say, our brain then lets us down again by tricking our eyes into thinking our script is perfect. I did once write flash for writing group, internal consumption only – typing away merrily without correcting a single word – it was fun.

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    1. Deborah Drucker Post author

      You have a good point that the writing mistakes could be a result of typing on the keyboard. I do participate in Stream of Consciousness Saturday and we are allowed to write and not worry about corrections. I usually end up editing my posts anyway. I do think it is important to write without being self-conscious and then go back later to correct any mistakes. Thank you, Janet. 🙂

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