When I first started trying to write novel-length fiction in middle school, I obviously made a lot of mistakes. One I can’t seem to live down is a particularly amusing spelling error.
I named the fictional town in my masterpiece Lilac Groove.
Not because I wanted the town to evoke images of a flower getting down or a purple hazed dance, but because I sincerely thought Grove was spelled Groove.
As an English teacher, I have a lot of my students try to tell me spelling isn’t important. I should know what they’re getting at and, really, the computer is going to catch all their mistakes. I argue with them, but it falls on deaf ears.
Guess what? Computers aren’t going to catch Lilac Groove over Lilac Grove. At least, they don’t have that capacity yet.
Nicole Helm 