If someone would have told me growing up that I would one day be a published author, I wouldn’t have believed them. English was a subject I always struggled with in school, mainly because I wasn’t good at spelling. In school, especially elementary school, spelling was often lumped together with grammar and literature, and no matter how hard I tried, it would always drag my grade down. It was so bad, in fact, that my second grade teacher dragged my parents in two weeks into the school year, and told them that I would most likely be held back because I couldn’t spell what were considered basic words in a second graders vocabulary.
As I got older, I learned to cope—adjust—to my difficulty spelling. Often times, I would realize I couldn’t spell the word I wanted to use, so I’d have to find a word that would mean the same thing, but was easier to spell. It was frustrating, not being able to express myself through writing the way I wanted to.
Two things saved me—My memory and my ability to express myself well through writing, even if I was handicapped by my lack of ability in the area of spelling. My memory not only served me well when trying to memorize those dreaded spelling words, it also helped me remember story and plot lines in books. It helped with studying for tests. As much difficulty as spelling has given me over the years, it also forced me to hone other skills that I didn’t have to work at so hard.
To this day, I have trouble spelling. I love interacting with my readers at events and book signings, but there is often that twinge of fear that I’ll be asked to write something that I can’t spell. The last thing a reader expects is for an author to have difficulty spelling. Most think of it as a natural thing that goes hand-in-hand with the other, but for me, it’s not.
I am grateful that I have been given this gift of being able to tell stories that so many readers love, but I am equally grateful for spell check, my beta, and my editors. I couldn’t produce the stories I do without them.
About the Author:
Sherri is the author of four novels: Hidden Threat, Slave (Finding Anna Book 1), Need (Finding Anna Book 2), Behind Closed Doors (A Daniels Brothers’ Novel), and a short story, A Christmas Proposal. She lives in central Ohio with her husband and three cats. Her mother fostered her love for books by reading to Sherri when she was a child. Stories have been floating around in her head for as long as she can remember, but she didn’t start writing them down until five years ago. It has becomeFacebook
creative outlet that allows her to explore a wide range of emotions while having fun taking her characters through all the twists and turns she can create. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found helping her husband in his woodworking shop.
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