Writing Tips - Don't Blame the Computer

Computers are supposed to make writer's lives easier, but sometimes they make us lazy. There are a few writing errors we make that we blame on the computer, but they really are the same mistakes we would have made with the good old paper and pen.Let’s start with the spell check feature. It’s a life saver sometimes, but not if you ignore it. The squiggly line under a word means that you should consider changing the spelling of the word. It’s just as easy to overuse the spell check as it is to overlook it. Don’t hit the change button without reading the proposed revision first. If you click, click, click, you may be changing words in your story without realizing it. Next, let’s talk about the font features. With so many different font styles and colors available, the temptation to make your story stand out can be hard to resist. Resist the urge. Editors and readers will find this amateurish and will know that you are a beginning writer. Unless submission guidelines say otherwise, keep to the traditional fonts (Courier, Times New Roman, Arial) and stick with black, size 12 lettering. Along with the font, submission guidelines usually reveal the desired page and paragraph format. If you are new at using computers, learn how to use the format feature right away. Learning how to adjust line spacing, paragraph format, page margins and fonts will prove to be invaluable once you start submitting your work. If proper format is ignored, editors will again look at you as an amateur and probably not take your work seriously. The computer’s spell check and grammar check features are wonderful, but you also want to be sure to proofread your work with your own eyes. The computer may not catch improper wording, especially proper names and homophones (to, too, two). You may have meant to write through, but you wrote thorough and the spell check won’t point those types of mistakes out to you. To sum it up, editors will catch your errors and blaming it on your computer won’t keep them from possibly throwing your submission in the trash because they may feel you don’t care enough about your story to take the time to fix it, so why should they?