Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Everybody makes mistakes. Right?

When I named this blog, I was thinking about how easy it is to be discouraged by the prospect of failure.  I wanted a name that would remind me to jump in with both feet, to share some ideas (even if they might be a little odd) and not to be held back by the fear of appearing ridiculous or awkward.

Grace is Overrated seemed a good place to start, so I bought the domain name, took a deep breath, and started posting.  This is now the place where I write and doodle and develop my ideas and it has been so good to get a few of them out of my head an onto the page and screen.  And along the way, I have read every single comment with delight.  I love the feedback.  Love it.

So.

Yesterday, schnuckiputzi left this sweet, thoughtful comment on the post with my newest journal page:


The part that caught me, as you might have already guessed was "'Lightning' not 'lightening' round -- sorry."

Yep, I've been spelling lightning incorrectly.  All along.  22 pages.

I was mortified.  Until I remembered why I started this thing in the first place.  Both feet, straight in.  There were bound to be bumps along the way and this was one of them.

Here's what I've been up to ever since:
  1. I freaked out a little and checked every dictionary I could find and nowhere was lightning spelled lightening.  (Although one dictionary did helpfully point out that lightening can be confused with lightning.  Good to know.)
  2. I called my husband at work and gave him the lurid details and he laughed.  But in a nice way.
  3. I emailed schnuckiputzi to thank her for her comment.  
  4. After the kids went to bed, I went back and changed every single instance of the word lightening to lightning.  
  5. Step 4 took a long time.  It involved graphics files and pdf files and uploading and downloading and expletives, all of which ultimately led to step 6.
  6. I will never again use the word lightening when what I really mean is lightning.
  7. I realized that everybody makes the odd mistake here and there.  Right?
I'd love to hear your stories!  Anyone made any mistakes lately?

20 comments:

  1. I still love all your pages, lightening or lightning. I am also a teacher--used to be kindergarten--and I would always prep and send home weekly, cute newsletters and about once a month a parent would point out some mistake--spelling or grammar- I had made on my newsletters. At least I knew they were reading them!

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  2. Ok, this is funny. . . I never noticed it on the journal pages. But I DID notice the exact same misspelling of the exact same word TODAY on a newsletter that was written by the principal of my kids' school! I think you're in good company!

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  3. Thanks for the giggle - and I was giggling *with* you not *at* you, so you know. : )

    I probably would have had the exact same reaction you had (including the having my husband chuckle at me, and the staying up late to fix absolutely everything). However, I might not have been brave enough to share my mistake with my readers... though I like to think I would be! : )

    I found your blog just a few days ago, and love the name... mostly because in High School one of my nicknames was "Grace." I earned this nickname because I spent about half of my senior year with a brace on my arm (from being very un-graceful).

    Carolina

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  4. Just found your blog, I love it! And I appreciate your honesty with your readers.

    Mistakes? No one is perfect but acknowledging that is half the battle. :-)

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  5. Sorry, but I had a huge laugh over this "mistake". Most of us probably would not have noticed! Being English, spelling and grammar were very big part of our schooling. I have slacked off soooo badly since living in the US as it doesn't seem terribly important any more. But for the most part I try to spell correctly and use good grammar (thank goodness for that squiggly red line under some words).

    As a side note, my name means "Grace". I don't think my Mother knew that when she named me, nor did she know I would be one of the least graceful women on the planet.

    Peace and Grace to you my dear.....

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  6. I liked lightening...to me it means making something lighter. And wasn't that part of the lightening round? Regardless, your journal pages are a work of art and I look forward to them. I'll be contacting you to see if you have plans to publish them in book form--which I would buy in a minute. They're fantastic! Thanks.

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  7. My word is "their" - at 32 years old, I still spell it thier most of the time and have to correct it after the computer gives it the red underline - something about those i before e rules! To make you feel better, I teach high school and design a theme every year for our staff. A few years ago, it was the whole "whose house?" "OUR HOUSE!" thing, and that together, we were "built spartan strong" (mascot). I always make awards to go along, that teachers can give each other through the year, and that year I made "master craftsman" awards, and had them professionally printed, full color, beautiful...with their spelled wrong.

    I never used them.

    I noticed the misspelling quite awhile ago, but didn't say anything because you were working so hard already. The English teacher has reminded me it's ok to tell people about mistakes when done kindly, and you have really shown true "grace" by reacting to it the way you did. I really admire it.

    I'll be going back to replace files then...
    Thanks!

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  8. Blame the spell check! Although I just looked it up and found that lightning rod and lightning bug are also sans e. Learn something new every day.

    Mistakes? Me? Daily. Usually in full view of all four kids. So they'll make less, right? :o)

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  9. ha! I've looked at EVERY ONE of your journal pages and never noticed this! I get remarks all the time about my poor grammar. No worries. You are still loved!

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  10. I'm rather proud of my spelling and I didn't know that you didn't spell it "lightening"! haha! I just found you on One Pretty Thing and I LOVE LOVE LOVE your journal pages! This is inspiring me to get back into journaling, which I haven't done since high school.

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  11. Thank you, Jana, Leslie, Carolina, Laila, Anne, Anonymous commenter, Carin, Scribbler, Ashley and Heather!

    Jana: Great perspective! It's great to know that you're still reading, mistakes and all!

    Leslie: Isn't funny how life happens that way? Just like when you learn a new word and suddenly you see it everywhere!

    Carolina: Giggling with you about the nickname! Glad to know I'm not alone in my reaction to this unfortunate event!

    Laila: Only half the battle? I was hoping that this would be my last mistake. :) Glad you found me!

    Anne: That squiggly red line was nowhere to be found. It figures that I'd choose another actual word to substitute for the correct word!

    Anonymous: Ooh! Good save! I hadn't thought about it that way. Maybe I'll return to the word lightening every now and then -- for old time's sake.

    Carin: Thank you for sharing your story! All that hard work . . . That must have been a rough day. I had the same thoughts about our dear English teacher! I'm really am grateful for her comment. And for all of today's comments as well. They mean a lot.

    Scribbler: That's how I prefer to look at it -- a learning experience. Mistakes in front of the kids are the worst, aren't they? They never, ever forget.

    Ashley: I know! Every single page. Arg. Thanks for the continued support!

    Heather: Yep, I was rather proud of my spelling too. I guess there's always room for improvement! Congrats on your return to journaling. I hope you'll let me know how it goes!

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  12. I think you are awesome and it makes absolutely no difference to me how you spell your words! I think being creative and sharing your creativity is an amazing gift to give to people and should not be critiqued.
    Your work makes me happy and makes my days totally rock!
    Thank you.
    Laura

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  13. I was confused by this spelling tragedy too. So, I began my investigation. Here are the results.

    The definition for the word Lightening is: the process or time during late pregnancy when the fetal head begins to descend into the mother's pelvis, resulting in a lessening of pressure on the diaphragm.

    The definition for the word Lightning is: flashes of light seen in the sky when there is a discharge of atmospheric electricity in the clouds or between clouds and the ground, usually occurring during a thunderstorm.

    This concludes my investigation. If this had been an actual emergency…

    {Now go undo what you have un-done!}

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  14. I don't think you spelled it wrong at all... you just forgot to add an "E" and "N" to the beginning. As in: "enlightening round".

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  15. As I read the first few lines of your post I was like "Me too!!" My blog is not up yet, I've been too afraid of making mistakes, appearing foolish, and just plain scared! Thanks for the inspiration :)
    Frankly I think you handled the whole spelling mistake with alot of grace. lol

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  16. I am a reasonably good speller, and am super picky which can get me into a little bit of trouble with my husband.
    My mistakes hold a bit more gravity.
    1. popping my cork at my kids
    2. pointing out my husband's grammatical errors

    Oh, there are many more to list, but not today. I can only work on so many errors at once.

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  17. Thank you, Laura, Dawn, Patrick, Lisa and Laylablue!

    Laura: Comments like yours make my days totally rock! :)

    Dawn: Good work, special agent! Yeah, they're completely different words aren't they? Good thing it wasn't an actual emergency. :)

    Patrick: I like it! Hadn't thought of that either!

    Lisa: I really hope you take that step! It's so worth the risk of a little foolishness. Go for it!

    Laylablue: I hear you. One error at a time. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  18. I am the official dictionary/thesaurus where I work (at an office with a bunch of guys) and I seriously have not noticed your error! Which is funny on my part!!! I am usually so ecstatic that you have posted another fun page to color and fill out (I am using the blank ones, cause I love to color!!) that I probably overlooked it. And seriously, I could use a little "lightening" - about 25 pounds!!!

    Thanks for your awesome blog!

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  19. I never even noticed! (...runs off to see how I check it) One of my favorite quotes is, "a truly creative person can find more than one way to spell a word." Love that. This morning I linked to a printable project that was no longer free. I felt terrible for everyone involved. Ugh. Everyone makes mistakes!

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  20. Mistakes are part of life. At least you didn't hurt anyone! I have broken furniture, pierced myself with knives and dropped items on my feet, walked into walls, harmed my husbands beloved car - all because of simple mistakes.
    Spelling Lightning isn't so bad - your work is so beautiful and thoughtful - please don't let a simple typo get you down.
    Please keep posting your wonderful journal entries - they help me to organize my thoughts, keep perspective (and I remind my friends to keep perspective as well with the quotes you choose), and finally, to let loose with MY creativity. Thank you so much!

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