SPELLING WOES

Today I typed the word NICKLE into my manuscript.
What? say you. Nickle isn't a word.
Sadly, I know this.

It's NICKEL.
 

I learned this in 4th or 5th grade at the Hill Demonstration School where I spent my earliest elementary years. Considering myself a stand-out speller, I won the class spelling bee and moved on to the school bee. Where the word NICKEL tripped me up. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was a zillion yesterdays ago.

(And yes, as my friend Sylvia pointed out on Facebook, a nickel isn't all that important these days. That's what I love about writing historical fiction. Nickels still count. And Tangee lipstick. And bobby-sox. And 45 records. See I could go on and on. But this blog is about SPELLING. Kind of.)

Spelling.
Maybe that's why one of my absolute-favorite-of-all-times books is

FAME AND GLORY IN FREEDOM, GEORGIA, 
by Barbara O'Connor.

CLICK HERE for a very early review I wrote, before I really realized what a storyteller Barbara O'Connor is. It may have been the first book I read of hers. I love the southerness of the story and the characters. I love the twist near the end. I love how everything doesn't always end with Happily Ever After in Barbara's books.

And I love the Spelling Bee parts. How hard poor Bird works to get to Disney!
To make a friend our of Harlem.
Sigh. I think I need to read that book again right now.

If you've missed it, here are links to buy your own copy:

http://www.indiebound.org/search/apachesolr_search?family_id_filter=0818904

http://www.amazon.com/Glory-Freedom-Georgia-Barbara-OConnor/dp/0374400180


I thought I'd never forget how to spell Nickel.
I won't ever forget the day I misspelled it.


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