Do all writers make mistakes (lack of clarity, weird misspellings after proofing the text more than once, etc) in the beginning of their writing careers? My husband told me he thinks that longer pieces are more challenging (compared to the little 900-word ones that I’ve had published locally for the past two years), and that I will get better as time goes on. Is that true? Right now, I’m really discouraged. Thanks for all of your help! -WK

I can tell you that almost every professional writer has submitted a manuscript with an error or two (or more). The problem all writers have is that, when they write a piece and read it and and then rewrite it over and over again, they stop seeing the errors in the document.

I hear it all the time from Booklocker.com authors. They say, “I’ve read my own book 50 times now and I can’t believe I never caught that misspelled word!” It’s as common as spilling coffee on your keyboard so don’t let it get you down.

While you should always use your word processing program’s spell-checker and grammar-checker, one thing I strongly recommend is finding a writing buddy and being available to double-check each other’s articles prior to final submission.