The Light Comes On

Over the past few months, while I’ve been working on my novels, for the Florida Springs Trilogy, I’ve had many questions. Along the way, I pondered what makes a good path for excellent writing, and how to use my word processing program to help me along that path. I offer three of my musing for your delectation.

1. What trigger can alert me that I’m writing myself into a passive voice?
2. How can I disable spell/grammar checker’s correction about a single rule, one that I wish to ignore maybe forever?
3. Is my spell/ grammar checker always right? I already knew the answer to that one. A friend sent me a funny list of things the computer thinks are right, but are not, and vice-versa. Today, however, I experienced a delightful example, so I want to share it with you.

A writer’s blog on polishing your own work helped with the first question. Look for the ings, it said, when you have an ing you may have a was or an is making the sentence passive. Suddenly I moved ahead. (Not suddenly, I was moving ahead.)

The next answer came from one of my mistakes. I polished away blithely clicking on the Ignore Rule unaware that I had shut off some of the suggestions for that document permanently. That works. If you don’t want contractions click on Ignore Rule. Novelists, who want their writing to sound casual, and to move the reader along, often go ahead and use contractions.

My example for the spell checker’s sometime frivolous pronouncements follows: in my poem, Woodrat the title had a red line under it. The top choice for a correction was woo drat. Since I don’t know what a woo drat is and don’t much care, I kept woodrat, even though it wasn’t strictly correct. After all, it is my poem.

When I was almost home, the sun shone suddenly in my eyes. As I slipped my sunglasses from my pocket, I realized that the Holy Spirit who lives in me knows all about writing and everything else. He answers when I ask for His help with the smallest, seemingly most unimportant matters. In other words, the light always goes on, sometimes immediately, sometimes later. I rejoice.

I also take suggestion from people. Do you have any? Please be gentle. Please, don’t tell me about commas. I have an exterior editor for that.

Arise; shine, for your light has come. Isaiah 60:1