Sunday, March 25, 2007

Search and Destroy

I'm working on taxes, I'm grading stories, I've got to get out there and cut down those dead daffodils in the garden. But I'm also stealing the odd moment to read through the novel, now done with three count 'em three copies printed out.

And, of course, you find many tiny errors. And you also find, let us say, an image or bit of rare vocabulary on page 200 that, you suddenly realize, you used on page 20. Take the word "python," for instance. There are no extra points for multiple python images.

Thus, search and replace is a wonderful tool for a writer of long manuscripts. A few keystrokes and a python becomes....

Not an anaconda. That would be missing the point.

No comments: