Doctor, Doctor Where Are You?

It's been a long week and I'm not feeling well.  The hazards of working with children is that sometimes I get caught in the crossfire of germs.  When that happens, I take a trip to my doctor in the hopes that she can check things out and tell me what I need to do to improve my health.

If a doctor is thorough, they will check a patient's eyes, throat, and ears to make sure everything is working properly.  As I sat there while my doctor poked and prodded, I actually thought about how we writers should do the same thing with our own work in progress.

Writers should keep their eyes open for the basic mistakes.  Things like spelling, grammar, and punctuation can detract from a good story.  I am forever struggling with verb tenses in my own work.  I'm not sure if that comes from a lack of comprehension when I was in school or if it is the result of living in the deep south where "ya'll" and "fixin' to" are every day occurrences.   Make good use of your critique groups.  Many eyes need to review your story as this valuable input helps you in polishing your work.

When you are finished with your first draft, you should read it out loud.  Listen for areas in your writing where you stumble over your own words.  Ask yourself questions.  Does this story flow when I read it out loud?  Am I stumbling over words because they just don't fit properly in the sentence?  Do my words create the right images for my potential audience?  I am constantly talking to myself as I read and re-read my stories out loud.  It's a good thing I don't answer back.

As you read out loud keep in mind the future readers of your work.  The younger the reader, the more challenging the task for you to help them create lasting images from your stories.  Illustrators may create wonderful drawings but it is your words that breathe life into each page.  Choose those words carefully because your readers are listening.

Just like my doctor trying to figure out what was wrong with me, writers need to search for the clues that indicate their work isn't well...and then do whatever it takes to make their stories better.  That way writers will help guarantee that their published stories will have a long and healthy shelf life.