7 – 13 October is Dyslexia Awareness Week, a time to celebrate the unique ways our minds work and raise awareness about this often misunderstood learning difference. For me, dyslexia has been something I’ve had to deal with – something that I’ve wrestled with, misunderstood, and, eventually, learned to embrace.

What’s Your Story?

Growing up, I always struggled with reading and writing. While my classmates seemed to breeze through the chapters of Of Mice And Men in GCSE English, I felt like I was stuck in a never-ending game of catch-up.

I always wanted to write stories. Not necessarily as a job, but more as a hobby. But, to someone with dyslexia, the prospect of becoming a writer can look as daunting as this:

Yet, all is not lost. Over the years, I’ve learned that dyslexia doesn’t have to be a barrier to becoming a writer.

In fact, it can be a catalyst.

My Journey With Dyslexia – And How Audiobooks Changed Everything

I always knew I had a knack for storytelling. One of my earliest challenges was my struggle with reading. I would look at a page, and the words seemed to dance around, refusing to settle. Seriously, the words on the page literally moved. I’m sure we can all agree that that presents a bit of a challenge. By the time I’d finished a page, my head would feel heavy, and I’d have no idea what I’d just read.

So how could I possibly even conceive of the idea of becoming a writer?

I read a lot of stuff, written by authors of all types of genres, from fantasy to horror, to a bit of romance now and then. All my favourite writers are unique in their writing style, their own way of storytelling, or in their approach to the craft. But, they all have one thing in common, the same piece of advice to aspiring writers: You Must Read!

And not just a bit. You must read prolifically.

And they’re not wrong. Reading is a crucial part of the writing process. But hearing that, to an aspiring writer with dyslexia is like someone slamming a heavy metal door in your face and telling you that you’re not allowed in.

But, just because reading presents what feels like a gruelling challenge to people with dyslexia, it doesn’t mean that you can’t read. That’s when I turned to audiobooks.

It wasn’t until I discovered audiobooks that everything changed. Suddenly, I could experience any book I wanted without the frustration of reading. Audiobooks became my pass into the world of literature, and through them, I discovered books and writers that I absolutely loved. And best of all: it helped me massively with my writing.

I was finally allowed through the big metal door!

But I don’t just sit and listen to them whilst staring at a blank wall. I found that listening to a narrator act out a scene, whilst the book is in front of me, is a huge help to me and the way my mind works. Now, I fly through books, not only hitting my Goodreads goals, but smashing them. Hell, I even up my goals each year! Gone are the days of taking a year to read only one book. You think I’m joking? In high school, it took me thirteen months to read The Goblet of Fire. I mean, I know that book would make a decent door stop but still…thirteen months!

Now, you’re probably thinking; Alex, don’t you know how expensive audiobooks are? Trust me, I know. I’ve used up every free trial for Audible, Spotify, BookBeat, you name it! But Audiobooks don’t have to break the bank. For instance, I used Apple Music for my music, but I moved to Spotify for the same price, because with Spotify I get fifteen hours of audiobooks (at the time of this blog post) included as well. That’s at least one decent thriller per month. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for Audible deals. Trust me, there’s always something with Audible – particularly if you’re a new customer. I’m talking stuff like three months for less than a $/£/€. That’s three audiobooks you can download and keep, for less than the change you’ve most likely got lost behind the couch! And finally, what a lot of people may not realise is that you’re local library will most likely enable you to rent audiobooks. If you’re in the UK like me, BorrowBox is a great resource to access some of the biggest titles in both ebook and audiobook form, for FREE.

It’s never been more accessible to read, even if you’re dyslexic.

And once I discovered audiobooks, I could finally take that advice of all my favourite writers.

The Writing Process as a Dyslexic Writer – And How Modern Technology Can Help

So, with the challenge of reading solved, I’m now able to read, understand and become inspired by the stories I’ve read.

But that isn’t the whole story.

Growing up with dyslexia, the idea of becoming a writer seemed like a pipe-dream. Being able to whizz through a good book or not, how could I possibly think I could write anything when I constantly struggled with stuff like spelling, grammar, and even basic sentence structure?

But here’s a little secret for you. It does not matter!

We have editors, remember? Proofreaders? Remember those fantastic people?

Your job as a writer is to tell a damn good story. And guess what? Dyslexia or not, you’re good at it!

But there are things you can do to help your editor out. Being dyslexic, spelling and grammar feels like a thorn in the arse. You can be writing away, lost in the moment and everything is great. And then you look back up at your computer screen. Then you see that Grammarly is having a red underline meltdown at what you’ve just written. And before you know it, you’re doing something that you should never do whilst writing a first draft: editing!

The first draft is you telling you the story. But if you keep stopping every two minutes, then you’ll lose sight of where you are! The story will suffer and you’ll fall into a cauldron of overwhelm. Not a cauldron to be in, as far as cauldrons go.

So here’s my tip – and this doesn’t apply only to writers with dyslexia. For your first draft: turn off everything and have a bit of fun. I’m talking turning the dial up to eleven fun. I’m talking typing so much the keys on your keyboard are taking a real battering. Not too much of a battering: keyboards are expensive. But at least put it through its paces.

When you’re done with your first draft, then we can allow Grammarly (or whichever tool you use) to have a total red underline meltdown. Because at that point, the story is out of your head and on that page.

And of course, we want to correct as many spelling or grammar errors as we can before sending it to our editors, right? A clean and tight manuscript will always be something that will benefit everybody, most of all you and your editor. You want your editor to be focussed on the important stuff, right? The storytelling, the character development, and plot holes you’ve created, big or small. Just like yours, an editor’s time is limited and precious. So, use as much of the editor’s time as possible to focus on the good stuff.

But then we have a challenge.

As a dyslexic writer, I can stare at a word all day and not spot the problem. My first draft of my first novel had me looseing my mind over it. See what I did there?

But once you’re done with your first draft, and taken a break, you’ll most likely want to get onto the second draft, and then maybe even a third or fourth, before you feel ready for the self-edit phase. This is the part of the writing process where modern technologies (including Ai – there I said it!!) can be really useful tools in tightening that manuscript and getting it into its best possible shape before sending it to your editor, especially for a writer with dyslexia.

Here’s some of the stuff I use when I begin the self-edit phase.

Grammarly

For all of its distractions in the first few drafts, in the self-editing phase, Grammarly is an essential tool when it comes to catching those nasty typos or resolving grammar issues. I don’t always agree with it. Sometimes we fall out over things like tone and voice. Grammarly doesn’t understand that my character may have a lisp, or that they talk in a distinct way. What I’m saying is, don’t move onto the self-edit stage and bring up Grammarly only to agree with every suggestion that it comes up with. That way, your manuscript will lose its human touch and the voice – your voice – will fade away. My number one rule of Grammarly: it may tell you that it detects the tone of your writing, but in a very broad way. The reality is, Grammarly doesn’t know if you’re writing fiction, non-fiction, a poem. IT DOESN’T KNOW. Even if it might try to tell you that it does. So protect your voice at all costs. That’s who you are as a writer!

QuillBot

QuillBot needs no introduction if you’re already enhancing modern tech in your writing process. Have you ever written a sentence and you can see what you’re trying to say, but you know it’s not being conveyed in the best way? Yeah this happens to folks with dyslexia all the time. QuillBot is a great tool for helping you cut the fluff out of your sentences and can provide some great alternatives. A few things to note, though. As great as it is, sometimes QuillBot can completely rewrite your sentence, and your voice as the author gets lost. This is all dependent on the settings that you have, so it’s always worth having a play around with it to see which works better for you. A handy tip: Don’t copy and paste from it. Read it’s suggestion, return to the manuscript and rewrite the sentence yourself in your voice. That way, your voice should remain consistent.

Your computer’s built in text-to-speech

It is also worth noting that your PC or Mac will have a built in text-to-speech tool. I use this religiously on my Mac as it provides a similar solution to using audiobooks for reading. Hearing my manuscript being read out loud really helps me assess my writing, and figure out what’s working and what isn’t. Plus, in recent years, the voice-overs on my Mac have improved massively. If you don’t already use your computer’s text-to-speech for reading your story back to you, it might be worth checking it out. On the Mac you can find it in accessibility settings, and I’m sure it’s in a similar place on Windows.

During the first lockdown, when I finally decided to start writing my first book, Hey, you, I knew it would be a huge challenge, and I didn’t know a whole lot about the tools I listed above. I was a fish out of water when I wrote that book, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing! I was fully aware of how chaotic my first draft was, with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes scattered throughout it here-there-and-everywhere. But I wanted to prove to myself that I could write a book, despite my dyslexia. I knew I had a good story to tell, but the big struggle was trying to train my mind to believe that the other stuff holding me back didn’t matter. And for the most part, it didn’t. I wrote Hey, you on a really tight budget. Writing is a hobby. I don’t have thousands of pounds to pour into it. I did what I could in terms of my self-edit. And, to my surprise, received a pretty awesome reception. People seemed to like it! And that was when I realised, with the help of tech, I could use my dyslexia to my advantage. As a catalyst.

Using Dyslexia as a Catalyst for Creativity

Over time, I’ve learned to view my dyslexia not as a disability, but as a gift – a different way of thinking that I can use as a tool in my storytelling. People with dyslexia often have incredible strengths in creativity, problem-solving, and, of course, storytelling. We see connections that others might miss. We approach challenges from unique angles – and these are qualities that make for great storytelling! After all, that’s what being a writer is truly about – it’s about capturing the essence of a story and sharing it with others. The technicalities of writing, like spelling and grammar, are important of course, but they’re not the heart of storytelling. The heart of storytelling lies with you, and the way you make people feel with the worlds you create, and the characters you bring to life.

So…

To My Fellow Dyslexic Writers: You’ve Got This

If you’re someone with dyslexia who dreams of becoming a writer, I want you to know that it’s absolutely possible. There are tools you can use to make things easier, just as long as you use them wisely. But know this: don’t let your struggles with spelling or grammar make you feel like you can’t be a writer. All you need is your imagination, and the willingness to put in the hard work. I won’t lie, dyslexia or not, writing is tough work! But it’s so rewarding when even one person likes something you wrote! And remember, your dyslexia doesn’t have to be a barrier.

In fact, it can be the very thing that sets you apart.

Remember that every great story starts with a messy first draft – and that’s okay. Dyslexia or not, you have a voice that deserves to be heard, and the world needs stories from people who think differently. The beauty of being a writer isn’t in writing perfectly – it’s in your voice, your imagination. So, let it run wild, and let your dyslexia be your catalyst to spark your creativity.

This Dyslexia Awareness Week, let’s celebrate not just the challenges we face, but the incredible strengths that come with them. To all the dyslexic writers out there: keep writing, and keep telling your stories. The world needs them.

And, to finish, I’ll leave you with my favourite quote from my favourite writer of all time:

“It’s not about the typo, it’s about the message…”

— Stephen King

For more information on Dyslexia Awareness Week, visit: British Dyslexia Associaton.