This was what was supposed to be called a short work week but it was anything but for me. First off, all the organizations, state agencies and to a degree even the AP slowed down on sending in their releases. Of course most of them aren't worth printing but you can usually find a few nuggets amongst the self-serving balderdash. That meant I had to find stories without at least a few landing in my lap.
To make matters worse, I was being taught how to post all our AP articles since the publisher who usually does that will be taking some time off.
Now posting takes about twelve steps per article and for the life of me I was having trouble remembering the sequence and the certain nuances that some of them have.
Thank God my son, who was doing his own job but was listening in, got it all as I don't think I have it yet. Yes, the youngster is already way ahead of me and doing just fine on the job.
He has tried to encourage me when I forget a step or forget what comes next snd he calmly shows me my errors and I move on.
He has explained to me. "Dad, don't be discouraged. You know 90% of what to do. Of course the 10% you still don't know is crucial.
The real problem I have been having is because the step by step instructions are in plain English and when I get discouraged and lose my concentration, I can't read English.
You see I am one of those millions of Americans who suffer from Dyslexia.
It is a really strange malady and I imagine I am lucky that my case is mild or at least I have been able to control it over the years so that it seems mild. I can read a book for pleasure quite handily and I can look at other works as long as I am relaxed and concentrating.
When I get flustered, or in a hurry or spend too much brain power worrying about why I can't get something, then the monster kicks in and the words start moving letters around and nothing makes sense to me.
MRI's have shown we dyslexics aren't using the correct spot in the brain when we read and there are varying degrees of this non-register of words into thoughts just as there are varying degrees of stroke damage.
When I type fast I also come out with some real douzies. I have never speed-typed Chicago right in my life. It always comes out Chcaigo every single time. Once in a while when I get pressed for time I look back at a misspelled word and it is so far removed from what it should be that I sometimes can't figure out what word it was I wanted to type.
Like I said, I am fine when I'm not flustered or in a rush and can concentrate but I am a rushing kind of person so it can be hard some days.
I'm fortunate that I have my little mentor right at home who I can yell to when I forget something I should be able to remember and can't see it on the sheet right in front of me.
I'm lucky. The monster could have been worse.
Freelance writer, columnist, author and writing coach, ex-Chicagoan Mike Fak presently resides in Central Illinois. More information about Mike's services are available at his home website www.mikefak.com
Mike currently writes primarily humor columns for searchwarp bi-weekly and is the managing editor of www.lincolndailynews.com
Mike, this is a terrific article. I hope many people read this, including two people dear to me. I hope to put a link in e-mail before my newsletter goes out. Many writers fear the challenges of dealing with dyslexia (not sure I can spell it!) and although I am not among them...that I know of...we all have challenges. More people than we know have dealt with this and other things that should have, in human judgment, kept them from succeeding, and did not keep them from succeeding at what they loved and wanted to do!
Like I said, mine is slight and only pops up when I get aggravated or tense but for some of us, the monster is there every time they look at words and I feel bad that there isn't more help for them out there. The Shriners are doing some great work supporting Dyslexia centers in the Midwest.
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