I've read this entire thread with great interest. Some of it I agree with, some of it made me LMAO, and I know 'the grammar Nazi's' are waiting eagerly for my first mistake.

Putting a line between paragraphs make it much easier to read. And 12 pica is the industry standard. Aything smaller is difdficult to read. My n key is sticking and I don't catch every one so that probably makes me look like a moron already.

I loved the poster who said first drafts are always filled with mistakes. Want to know why? Because if I wrote the first sentence and went back to correct it and then wrote the second sentece and went back to correct it, the book would never get written. In the first draft you just want to get the story out. You will see bad grammar and bad spelling, notes on research, places where it says 'fill in the blank' and a lot of other notes that won't make sense to anyone but the writer. That's why it's called a 'first draft'.

Since you are also dealing with things like story arc, plotting, secondary plots, main, secondary and minor characters (who ALL use a different way of speaking), world building, character profiles, battle scenes and love scenes, created words for fantasy and sci-fi, and so much more, grammar and spelling pretty much take a back seat until the third draft. And you are dealing with making weak metaphores strong, stomping out cliches,
watching active verses passive, finding suitable synonyms, striving for economy and clarity, limiting backstory while makig sure each character uses his own voice, staying true to that characters background, syntax, personality and reaction to emotion and action. At the same time you must make sure you are staying true to story arc, plotting, world building...well, you get the picture.

My dictionary and synonym finder are dog eared because the computer versions are a joke and break your flow. And research? Even if your story is based in another time or on another world, your research must still be spot on. I spent a week researching Scotland and Loch Ness and three weeks on Ben Franklin and the tea party.

So grammar and spelling are important, but no more important than your other tools and generally the last draft is used to polish.

As for posting in here-if you are distracted by my mistakes, you are not concentrating on content or listening to what I have to say. Sure, some posters make so many mistakes, it's hard to read. I read it anyway, because I know their words come from their heart. I only have a limited time here each day because of my work schedual, and in future it will be even more limited. So I will read my post over once, but I won't waste my time trying to make it perfect. That strikes me as illogical. I endevor to make most of my posting supportive and as long as the person gets that, then I've accomplished my purpose.

No one is perfect at anything and I'm sure I make a lot of mistakes. But when you are writing fiction, you can get away with a lot if it adds to your story.

But I would never-never correct someone unless they ask me to. To demean or belittle or hurt someone's feelings to make yourslef feel superior is a bunch of crap. Take that! (Tea shishes her sword of justice!)
Grammar Nazi's indeed.

)And just for fun, I've added some deliberate mistakes in case you run out of things to do.(