As you may know I’ve been editing my novel Flipside for the umpteenth time, checking, rechecking, rewriting, deleting, changing… One of the things I notice is that i repeat certain words over and over; how much easier lot is than when I handwrite my stories, or used a typewriter. Now with a computer you can just press change and all the annoying repeats will appear and can be replaced with something different or more original.
Despite it being a novel of murder, suspense, fear and anger, it is also a love story which I hope is very tender, and maybe even moving. So I’ve had to balance the dark sides with a lighter side… but I noticed that there was an awful lot of laughing going on. Not that there is anything wrong with laughing, but my characters could giggle, chuckle, even titter; they could smile or grin, they didn’t need to be laughing all the time. Because there are several different ways of expressing amusement, I was going though the text looking at each time I’d used laugh/laughed/laughing/laughter and weighing up whether to keep the word or change it.
All was going swimmingly until I accidentally pressed ‘change all’ instead of ‘change’, but I didn’t notice at first. I needed to spell check something and then noticed there were a lot of ‘ings’ or ‘eds’ and ‘ters’… and then I realised…. so I have had to go through the whole thing again… I just hope I haven’t missed any, my readers tend to be very eagle-eyed when it comes to errors!
Lois Elsden 
I always find the nearer I get to finishing – the further away the end seems! 😉
LikeLike
So true, Ross, so true!
LikeLike
It can’t be easy but I’m sure it will all be worth it in the end. Good luck, Lois.
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
Oh noes! lol
I’m gonna read this when it comes up on Amazon. Waiting excitedly now 🙂
LikeLike
I’ve loaded it… just waiting for it to arrive… should be any time now!
LikeLike
The delete key is the writer’s best friend.
Ctrl or Command Z – the undo key combo – is the editor’s best friend.
LikeLike
Oh wow! I shall engrave it on a plaque and hang it on the wall! Thanks… it was so time wasting to go back over the entire doc and undo it all!
LikeLike