Jill K Willis
National Proofreading Day may not be as thrilling as National Pizza Day, but it still merits commemoration. After all, where would writers’ works be without the discipline of proofreading? In the slush pile, on teachers’ failing lists, and bandied about as jokes . . . that’s where.
So how did this writer-centric day become a thing? Back in 2011, Judy Beaver, author of Office Talk by the Office Pro blog, created National Proofreading Day in remembrance of her mother, Flo, whose birthday was March 8th. Flo loved to correct people and urged everyone to use the rules of grammar in writing instead of typing as if speaking.
What can you do to celebrate this day?
- Slow down and read what you’ve typed. Strive for 100% accuracy.
- Visit nationalproofreadingday.com and vote in the poll on “What do you think when you see an error in an email?”
- Visit the National Proofreading Day Facebook page. You can learn proofreading tips, trade horror stories, and share photos of hilarious signs with misspelled words.
- Thank the person who always proofreads your documents. Maybe write a sweet thank you note with all the words spelled correctly?
- Brush up on your grammar skills by reading online guides. Check out English First, Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab, and Grammar Girl.
Has anyone ever saved you from embarrassment by catching a typo or grammatical error? Please share below. I’d love to read your story and promise not to judge any spelling errors.
Tracy Popolizio
Laurie Germaine
Michelle Kaderly Welsh
My husband wanted to a relaxed setting to help acouple navigate through some tense communication issues. We decided to invite them over for a morning brunch and he sent a text. But the auto-correct changed “come over for waffles” to “come over for “battles”
Oops! Hope that got a giggle out of them. 😂