Speak n spell

I've always been a pretty good speller. Not really spelling bee good though. My one experience with a big deal spelling bee was in 9th grade and I was out in the first round with the word: "kernel" - I spelled k-e-r-n-e-l. But what I should have done was asked them to use it in a sentence because the word was "colonel". I got the one trick word. I did know how to spell colonel too but that's just not the word I thought of when I heard "kur-nl".

So I have been shocked and disappointed in myself because lately I have been writing things phonetically. Like:

wonce

union (for onion)

hoo (for who - what?! - yes... I really did)

tirn (for turn - could go either way)

What is going on in my brain? I then have to erase or scribble out the word while shaking my saddened head. These spelling errors usually happen when I write by hand. Maybe I'm just lazy when it comes to hand writing things.