This type of discussion really hooks into something inside of me. And so I thought about it for a long time and then I realized what it was. So let me tell you a story.
Once upon a time, in a land covered in snow and ice, lived a little girl. Now this little girl, along with everyone who started grade one, took an IQ test. And she did quite well. But then, when she was in grade two, she started failing school. In fact, she was doing so poorly that school authorities thought they must have made a mistake on her IQ test. She was sent back for more testing because they thought something must be wrong with her intelligence. She started having ulcers and used to beg her mother not to make her go to school. Her mother, often in tears, knew that her little girl had to go to school and so she made her go in spite of the constant stomach aches.
Authorities were baffled when their testing showed the same above average IQ for the little girl. And so, at the end of grade two, they decided to pass her into grade three. The little girl pleaded and begged with her parents not to make her go to grade three. This time her parents did intercede, fighting with school authorities to let the little girl repeat grade two. And in the end, they won and the little girl was allowed to repeat grade two.
In the years that followed, the little girl did much better in school. In fact, she excelled. Still, no matter what the little girl’s teachers or parents did, she couldn’t seem to learn to read or spell - at least not well. She would stumble over words and often get laughed at by other students when she couldn’t read.
But the little girl never gave up - primarily as a result of parents who believed in her intelligence and a mother who would spend hours with her every night practicing reading and spelling. Her mother would give her nightly spelling tests and then require that she write out each word she got wrong a hundred times. And then, once that was done, would give her the same test again. The odd thing was that she would still get words wrong - sometimes the words she’d get wrong were the ones she had just written out a hundred times and sometimes the words she’d get wrong were ones she had gotten right the last time.
On one occasion, when she was in grade six, the little girl got a hundred percent on a spelling test. It was the proudest moment of her life. She was even given a standing ovation by the rest of the class, who by then had come to realize that the little girl, for reasons that were beyond their ability to understand, simply could not spell.
And then an ‘expert’ came to the little girl’s school and met with her. He, in his profound wisdom, told the teachers and the little girl’s parents, that the only reason the little girl couldn’t read or spell was because she didn’t want to read or spell.
Fortunately, the little girl’s parents thought that the expert was stupid and completely dismissed him. They believed that their little girl was both intelligent and doing her best - and they never, ever let her believe otherwise.
The little girl went on to earn three university degrees and has currently been practicing law for more than ten years. In her spare time, she writes. Why? Because it’s a challenge. She loves exercising her imagination and the best way to do that is to put things down on paper. Now, she still struggles constantly with both spelling and grammar. She tries her best, and has had some incredible support from people to help her with both. But she knows she will never be perfect. Why? Because she has dyslexia. Experts didn’t know about dyslexia when the little girl was growing up and so they decided that she was simply not trying or that she was stupid.
As you’ve probably guessed by now, that little girl is me. I try to get my spelling and grammar right. And I always use my spell-checker. And I have two of the most patient Beta readers alive. But when people indicate that they want me to be perfect when it comes to spelling or grammar, or never mix up my words, I know they are asking the impossible.
I think that if someone is doing their best, they should be congratulated. They should always be encouraged to do better. But no one is perfect. And if you write a story that hooks into my curiosity or my imagination, it doesn’t matter to me if you forget a comma or make a grammatical error. Just entertain me and do your best and I’ll be happy with your writing.
Just my two cents.
ML Thompson(who loves her parents to death)
