For people who have trouble spelling, remember it is not a moral failing!

Run the document through the spell check and grammar programs. The spell check will catch at least some words where you have left out a character and said something like don instead of done. The grammar program will show you if you have repeated a word, such as in in, or left out a verb somewhere. Don’t trust it as the final arbiter of your writing, however. Use a grammar reference manual to check anything that sounds odd.

Use the Find and Replace tools to find and fix words which won’t be picked up by the spell check, words like to, too, two; there, their; and practise, practice. Be particularly careful with words like public, as a missing l can alter things a smidge.

Look for extra spaces. The Find and Replace tool can also do that for you.

Skim Now you are ready to read. But you won’t really be reading. You are not interested in content at this stage, just typos. One way to do this is to begin looking half way along the line, then go back to the first half. Do this for each line. Do it quickly and try not to read actual words.

Now put it away for the night. Tomorrow you can do it all again.

It is also really important, if at all possible, to have someone else proofread it as well. Your eyes are incredibly clever at seeing what ought to be there. Remember the mixed-up letters in the example on page 67.

Make the corrections. Try not to change too much of the content. It’s always tempting to think you have found a better way to say something, but it opens up huge possibilities for extra typos. If you can, coerce another person to read it through for mistakes. Writers for magazines are seldom allowed to do the final proofread of their articles, as it is so easy to miss an error when you know what you expect to see.

In workshops, I have often given out a pamphlet which had been in use for several years. Once, after I had talked about proofreading, a workshop participant quietly pointed out to me that I had twice written you when it should have been your. I had never noticed it.

Check the hard copy It is also important to do at least one read-through on paper. You will see mistakes that are easily missed on the screen.

And finally—keep your fingers crissed crosassed crossed!