By: A.B. Timothy
The annoying process after…
Have you ever fought in an epic Nerf war? Maybe it was at a friend’s house or at your church for a youth night activity, tons of fun, right? Well, it is a blast (only a tiny pun intended), right up until the fight is over. The thousands of bullets have been shot, and many brave children have been riddled with the tickles of Nerf darts. Then starts the boring part. See, nobody can afford to throw away all those darts and go buy new ones, right? So, what happens? Well, you remember, you spend the next twenty minutes on your hands and knees recollecting all of those stinkers.
“But, A.B.!” I hear you cry, “We’re here to read about writing, not for you to relive your childhood.” And alright, here it is. Editing, a vital part of that writing process, is like those last twenty minutes of a Nerf war. You get on your mental hands and knees and start picking through the battlefield (pages of prose) and start cleaning (proofreading). What can you do to improve this? Well, you can study English deeper, go by a grammar textbook and maybe a book on storytelling, or two, and work on the pregame. This is like working on your aim; the less you miss, the less there is to clean up. Another option is to utilize a tool, like spell check or Grammarly, to help you proofread. I have found Grammarly to be extra useful as it will catch things that I had no idea about.
Commas…
I have an arch rivalry with the comma. I will forever be a step behind its dastardly designs. I will look at my document and mouse over a red error from Grammarly, only to see that it is pointing out a comma mistake. I have improved ever so slightly every time I have had to correct one of these mistakes, but every time I think I have figured it out, Grammarly will adjust its glasses, raise a finger, and say, “Umm, actually.” It has done so many times in this article alone!
How about you?
Tell me about your proofreading/editing misadventures in the comments below! Follow me on X @ABTimothyAuthor, follow me on Instagram (Both linked below), and subscribe to this page for daily blog posts!