How can life get better than this?
KristinaStanley
Swimming with a Ray
The magic of swimming with a Ray.
This ray kindly gave us a beautiful show at Sand Dollar Beach, George Town, Bahamas.
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Proofreading: Choosing a Better Word
During the final proofreading of a novel, a writer can be tempted to change a word, deciding another word is better. I try not to cave to the temptation at this stage, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.
One thing I’ve learned while proofreading is that I need to be very careful during the final reading. It’s easy to introduce a typo, but worse, what if the new word doesn’t fit with the surrounding text?
How to I test this?
First, I replace the word. Then I read the entire scene to determine if it sounds right in the whole context. I often find that I’ve chosen a word already written in a paragraph before or after the one I’ve just altered.
The word change might sound better or it might not, but without testing the scene I wouldn’t know. To make the process faster, I could search for the word, to find out if it’s anywhere near, but I still think it’s worth reading the scene to make sure the change makes the story better.
Are there things you look out for in the final proofing?
Thanks for reading . . .
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Farley’s Friday: Wheaton Terrier Chases Windsurfer
Farley here.
No matter how hard I try I can’t catch my human on his windsurfer.
First there’s the problem that I’m afraid of deep water, so I try the beach approach.
“Wait,” I bark, but he doesn’t.
He gibes and I have to go running the other way.
“Wait,” I bark again, and still he ignores me.
“So don’t wait,” I bark. “I’m going to roll around and get sandy.”
“Good luck getting this off my fur before I get on board.”
Humans are soooo easy to drive crazy.
By the way, did you notice how crowded the beach is – not!
Woof Woof.
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Can a Ruler Help You Proofread?
I’m fascinated by how difficult it is to proofread my work. Why can’t my eye see if on the page instead of reading of – that’s not really there?
What does a ruler have to do with proofreading? Let’s call it the new tool in my toolbox.
When I think my work is ready to send to my agent, I print the final copy and read it, line by line, very slowly.
I place the ruler underneath each line as I read it. This forces my eye not to stray forward to the next line. The ruler stays in place until I’ve read every word.
Out of 80,000 words, I found five typos. They were:
– a missing quote
– a missing word (had)
– a missing period at the end of a sentence
– you’re instead of your
– color instead of colour
I don’t think I would have found the mistakes without the ruler. This may seem like a lot of work for just 5 errors, but I believe in sending my best work out. If I don’t take is seriously, why would anyone else?
Do you have any proofreading tips you’d like to share?
Thanks for reading . . .
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Swimming with Sharks
Living the cruising lifestyle presents some exciting opportunities. It only takes a little courage to take advantage.
Compass Cay Marina in the Exuma island chain, Bahamas has a school of Nurse sharks that frequent the marina.
The sharks are used to human interaction, although the marina staff does recommend not putting your hand in a shark’s mouth – duh 🙂
My niece had the guts, I had the camera and off we went. She made me go in the water first. “Just in case,” she said. “It’s your duty as my aunt to sacrifice yourself.”
How could I argue? So I went first, nothing ate me and she came in after.
Here’s the proof we swam with sharks – okay I know they’re Nurse sharks and are harmless, but tell that to the adrenaline rushing through my body.
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Farley’s Friday: Dog Toys
Farley here.
Squeak, squeak, squeak.
My human friend, Sharon, gave me a squeaky toy for Christmas. I’m not the type of dog that likes toys, but this one is pretty cool.
It makes the greatest noise.
Last night, I snuck it out of the cubby hole my human hides it in (like I can’ find it).
I eyed the clock.
Three a.m.
That’s a reasonable time to play, I thought. Kristina -not so much. She’s always nice to me, no matter what I do. She gently took the toy away, explained why I had to wait until morning to play and then rubbed my belly. Now that’s what I call fun to be reprimanded.
Woof Woof.
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Windsurfing: Carrying Gear
If you windsurf, you know it can be difficult to move gear around. Sometimes the beach you want to sail from is just not in the right place.
We visited friends in the Bahamas, and, yup, you guessed it. Our gear was on the east side of the island and we wanted to sail on the west side. So what did we do.
Used the grizzly of course.
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Point of View: Describing Characters
When you are writing in a character’s point of view, can you describe that character’s face or part of themselves that they can’t see?
For example, in a scene written in Ian’s point of view, can the following be written?
Ian blushed and his freckles turned orange.
My thoughts . . . Ian might know he’s blushing from the physical sensation, but how could he know his freckles turned orange?
So if you agree that this isn’t the right way to convey the image, then what?
Perhaps I could:
– Have another a character make fun of the orange freckles.
– Have another character say, “I know you’re lying. You’re freckles are turning orange.”
Do you have any ideas how to get around this?
Thanks for reading . . .
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Farley’s Friday: Bobbing For Apples
Farley Here.
How do I know if my humans are laughing at me or with me? Debi, my human friend shot this video because I want the ball.
Want it, want it, want it, want it!
Can’t get it. Grrrrr.
