Holding it up to the Mirror

[Rob Reid]

I have a suggestion on how to read your work with fresh eyes for review and revision.
Change the font style – for example write in Calibri then convert to Times to review. I find this makes it seem more like reading it for the first time. Sometimes I’ll also read it in hard copy rather than on screen.

This reminds me of a technique I used back when I drew editorial cartoons. After finishing a pencil draft, I’d hold it up to a mirror and often notice flaws that I’d fix before inking the final version. I’ve since heard of other artists who do this. Do any other writers out there use the font trick? Or have other suggestions? I know it can help to put your work aside for 6 months, but I usually don’t want to wait that long.

 

[Robert M Derry]

Regrettably, stepping away from the MS for a few weeks is the only way I know of getting that editing distance.

 

[Leonora]

We also talked the other week about getting Word (or another program) to read it aloud.

 

[Quillwitch]

We also talked the other week about getting Word (or another program) to read it aloud.

How do you do that?

 

[Webbwalker]

We also talked the other week about getting Word (or another program) to read it aloud.

I've done that a few times but the voice in my program reads in such a daft, portentous tone. He sounds like Stephen Toast doing a voice over. I can't take him seriously.

 

[Carol Rose]

How do you do that?

It has to be the correct version of Word: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-use-microsoft-word-text-to-speech-to-read-out-loud

 

[Leonora]

I use Balboka, a free download.The voices are pretty terrible, but it's another distancing technique, and I figure if it sounds interesting despite the voice, it must be ok. And boring bits sound REALLY boring! Plus typos become immediately apparent.

 

[Nikky Lee]

I agree with reading it aloud or finding an app to do it for you. I recently downloaded @Voice from the android store and it wasn't too bad. The Microsoft Edge browser read aloud isn't too bad either - as I discovered when I converted my WIP into an epub and my computer decided to open it in Edge).

 

[Haze O'Hagan]

I have a suggestion on how to read your work with fresh eyes for review and revision.
Change the font style – for example write in Calibri then convert to Times to review. I find this makes it seem more like reading it for the first time. Sometimes I’ll also read it in hard copy rather than on screen.

This reminds me of a technique I used back when I drew editorial cartoons. After finishing a pencil draft, I’d hold it up to a mirror and often notice flaws that I’d fix before inking the final version. I’ve since heard of other artists who do this. Do any other writers out there use the font trick? Or have other suggestions? I know it can help to put your work aside for 6 months, but I usually don’t want to wait that long.

The mirror idea is ingenious.

 

[Haze O'Hagan]

We also talked the other week about getting Word (or another program) to read it aloud.

That's a great point, I've been using an audio reader on chrome which has done wonders for me.

 

[Rob Reid]

Thanks for all the replies. I've tried reading my writing aloud myself but using the Speech feature in Word is an interesting new idea. I just tried it and it's not bad - although the voice has an eerie resemblance to HAL from 2001.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I get my husband to read mine aloud.

 

[Quillwitch]

I use Balboka, a free download.The voices are pretty terrible, but it's another distancing technique, and I figure if it sounds interesting despite the voice, it must be ok. And boring bits sound REALLY boring! Plus typos become immediately apparent.

Yes! those typos become so obvious all of a sudden!

 

[Amber]

Exactly. Everyone should take a gander at their under carriage.

 

[Marc Joan]

Exactly. Everyone should take a gander at their under carriage.

That sounds suspiciously British for an allegedly transatlantic person. Are you sure you're not really from Essex?

 

[Amber]

That sounds suspiciously British for an allegedly transatlantic person. Are you sure you're not really from Essex?

Is Essex a posh region? I'd like to be posh.

I'm definitely an American but I probably don't mix with the locals enough. Also, my grandmother managed to convince me she was the queen of England and died before I was bold enough to obtain clarification.

 

[Marc Joan]

Ummm...few people, even those in Essex, would claim it to be posh, I'm afraid...

 

[Webbwalker]

Is Essex a posh region?

::is laughing too hard to write::
It is unfair, really. There are some truly lovely places in Essex, but it has a tainted reputation.

 

[E G Logan]

Ummm...few people, even those in Essex, would claim it to be posh, I'm afraid...

Maybe only those who appear on reality TV shows about the location...

 

[Amber]

::is laughing too hard to write::
It is unfair, really. There are some truly lovely places in Essex, but it has a tainted reputation.

I see. So @Marc Joan was asking if I lived in the hood.

I no longer admire you @Marc Joan.

P.S. I actually do live in the hood.

 

[Leonora]

And where you live, people really do say 'take a gander'? Well I never.

 

[Leonora]

It sounds like it ought to be rhyming slang.

 

[Marc Joan]

I see. So @Marc Joan was asking if I lived in the hood.

I no longer admire you @Marc Joan.

P.S. I actually do live in the hood.

Hey, as Webbwalker says, there are lovely places in Essex. Some of the villages in North Essex are beautiful. Constable country, Dedham, etc. Both my parents are from north Essex originally, though they moved into Suffolk later. So in a way, I'm an Essex boy -- though in other ways, not.

 

[Amber]

Hey, as Webbwalker says, there are lovely places in Essex. Some of the villages in North Essex are beautiful. Constable country, Dedham, etc. Both my parents are from north Essex originally, though they moved into Suffolk later. So in a way, I'm an Essex boy -- though in other ways, not.

I want to live in a Midsomer village, where there's lots of green and centuries old resentment.

 

[Marc Joan]

The murder rate in those villages is dreadful.

 

[Webbwalker]

Midsomer, St. Mary Mead, Kembleford. Lovely old mediaeval villages with a murder rate to rival Caracas.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

And where you live, people really do say 'take a gander'? Well I never.

Here, it's 'have a squiz', which I think is brilliant (though I have no idea where it comes from).

 

[Amber]

Here, it's 'have a squiz', which I think is brilliant (though I have no idea where it comes from).

Maybe it comes from the word squint.

 

[Amber]

That sounds suspiciously British for an allegedly transatlantic person. Are you sure you're not really from Essex?

An inside source has explained to me there is a stereotype about "Essex Girls." Although, I have to admit, I couldn't justly be called a girl anymore.

Essex girls sound a little ... um ... trashy. Like the Jersey Shore of the UK.

Essex Girls

A Serious Documentary on Essex Girls - So Serious, I Can't Help Wondering If They're Really Serious

I don't like white stilettos.

Are You Smarter Than an Essex Girl?

....and because I can't help liking LMFAO:

I'm in Essex Girl

I feel like I've been pranked. Well done @Marc Joan. Well done.

 

[Marc Joan]