Website Update

After a long hiatus during which I've been writing & editing stories, composing & playing music, and in general trying to survive, I revisited my Hope Chastain website to update the Commonly Confused Words page. It seems almost every time I read a book, I discover yet another word that has been used in place of a similar-sounding (and correct) word. This time it was adverse used in the place of averse, as in "I'm not adverse to that idea." Since adverse means inauspicious, what the author really wanted to say was "I'm not averse to that idea," meaning opposed to or against.

I'm always willing to give writers the benefit of the doubt. After all, it's easy to misuse a word through writing too fast. Fingers flying over the keyboard trying to keep up with the thoughts tumbling from a writer's brain can easily add or subtract letters, changing words and meanings. That's where proofreading comes in.

Proofreading is one of the most difficult of all the arts associated with writing. It's so easy to get caught up in what is said on the page and miss typographical or grammatical errors. My hat is off to all proofreaders everywhere.

Editors can't catch all the mistakes. They get caught up in the story, just as we do. So, writers, it's up to us to catch our own mistakes, so they don't have to!

Happy proofreading, everyone!