National Proofreading & Write Your Own Story Days

National Proofreading Day is March 8th and National Write Your Own Story is March 14. I combined them because they have the same problem – you can’t proofread and edit your own writing. It’s a scientific fact.



In proofreading, the words pretend to be correct in front of your eyes. When someone else reads them they usually find the problem.


You think every word is golden in a memoir so it should not be edited. I actually had an author say that to me about her 800 page diatribe. It needed editing badly and she wasn’t willing to do that. The other problem is 800 pages makes for an expensive book that very few people will shell out money to buy.



You can not write a book in a vacuum. You need a person to edit and a person to proofread – if you are lucky maybe the same person. You have to be ready to accept the changes suggested.

Writing is not a completely solitary act. We all need help with our manuscripts.

Barbe Awalt

ALWAYS SPELLCHECK YOUR WORK