Should You Rely on Spell-Checker to Edit Your Book?
“Dew knot trussed yore spell chequer two fined awl yore mistakes.” --Brendan Hills (with thanks to alert reader Eva P Scott for supplying this perfect example) If you're like me, you depend upon your word-processing software's spell-checker to pinpoint errors when you're composing. Let's be honest here: even if you did once know how to spell thousands of words, your digital editing buddy has taken over the heavy lifting. Unless you've turned yours off (and why would you??). When you're racing your fingers across the … [Read More...]
On writing, deadlines, and the flu
What's the best medicine for the flu? You might think it's Tamiflu® or Theraflu® or maybe honey and whiskey (tea?). My wife's doctor recommended cough medicine plus Tylenol®. (What's with all the T-medicines, anyway?) Each of those products may be fine for treating the symptoms. What about a cure for the flu? Turns out, the vaccine only works in advance; so that's not much help once your have the flue. From what I've seen this year, the best medicine for the flu is ... laughter. That's right -- laughter. Let's face it, … [Read More...]
On writing, deadlines, and the flu
What's the best medicine for the flu? You might think it's Tamiflu® or Theraflu® or maybe honey and whiskey (tea?). My wife's doctor recommended cough medicine plus Tylenol®. (What's with all the T-medicines, anyway?) Each of those products may be fine for treating the symptoms. What about a cure for the flu? Turns out, the vaccine only works in advance; so that's not much help once your have the flue. From what I've seen this year, the best medicine for the flu is ... laughter. That's right -- laughter. Let's face it, … [Read More...]
Interview with Charlotte Howard, author of “Seven Dirty Words”
The New Year brought us a new author with her first book release from Rocking Horse Publishing. Yesterday, I spent an hour or so chatting with Charlotte Howard about her steamy novel, Seven Dirty Words. We had hoped to get together on Skype for this interview, but that didn't quite work out. Read on... "All I can say is the sex is graphic and so is the language, but I hope it's not vulgar." »Q Let's begin with a little about you. You're living in Martock, England, correct? Yes, down in Somerset. »Q Does that make you a city girl? … [Read More...]
Hot off the presses
May’s Spell-Checker Contest post: Errors revealed for review
Our May Editing Contest was a comedy of errors.. I challenged contestants to wade through a real post riddled with dozens of intentional mistakes. Mistakes composed entirely of words spelled correctly, but used incorrectly. These are the errors an ordinary spell-checking program cannot reliably identify. They fool your own eye, too, since you know your [...]
Round-up of today’s popular articles
May Cash Contest: How many Spell-check errors can you spot?
Not one word on this page is misspelled, but... Dozens of words on this page are still wrong. Your Spell-Checker … [Read More...]
April’s Foolish writing contest: “Bring out yer Spam!”
I want your Spam Comments. Really, I do. I want to plaster them all over this page. Now, you might ask yourself, … [Read More...]
On writing, deadlines, and the flu
What's the best medicine for the flu? You might think it's Tamiflu® or Theraflu® or maybe honey and whiskey … [Read More...]
News and information about our upcoming Contests
Should You Rely on Spell-Checker to Edit Your Book?
“Dew knot trussed yore spell chequer two fined awl yore mistakes.” --Brendan Hills (with thanks to alert reader Eva P Scott for supplying this perfect example) If you're like me, you depend upon your word-processing software's spell-checker to pinpoint errors when you're composing. Let's be honest here: even if you did once know how to spell thousands of words, your digital editing buddy has taken over the heavy lifting. Unless you've turned yours off (and why … [Read More...]
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