And other reasons you may need an editor.
“I hope I don’t catch flack from my wife,” the author wrote me, “for having to write on Mother’s Day.”
I understood what he meant, even if he didn’t type flak.
What’s the difference? The first means a publicity agent. The second is a burst of anti-aircraft fire. I know which one I’d rather catch.
How can you insure you don’t make that mistake? I doubt you can, even if you beg your State Farm agent. But if you’re in doubt, you can ensure such errors don’t go into print by hiring an editor—or at least a grammar-nerd proofreader—to pore over your manuscript. (Unless you use waterproof ink and paper, don’t ask someone to pour over it.) That expert can then assure you that your manuscript has been checked for homophones.
What are those? Words that sound the same but have different meanings.
It’s easy for some people to confuse similar words. But enough writers are sufficiently word-conscious that I blame the problem on spell-check and its suggestions.
That thought could make me shutter, but my windows are already closed.
