Ken Farmer's Blog
April 12, 2016
More on self-editing.
I have been testing Grammerly as one of the tools for proofing and it is a definite help. Actually, a really good help. It is definitely NOT a "submit book and receive perfectly edited text in return." Far from it.
But, it will find many hard-to-see-by-the-author errors and the continual referencing back and forth from the text column to the suggested error lists somehow makes the mind reset and see problems that it would overlook in just a straight reading.
Often I disagree with the findings, but at least I see them.
And, of course, it chokes on the deliberately misspelled "flavor" words, but that is no problem.
I have run all three books though it and found hundreds of errors and suggestions, then gave one to a real editor and she found only a few left. So it did a really good job - far better than my self-editing by reading.
It is definitely worth the money - at least for me.
But, it will find many hard-to-see-by-the-author errors and the continual referencing back and forth from the text column to the suggested error lists somehow makes the mind reset and see problems that it would overlook in just a straight reading.
Often I disagree with the findings, but at least I see them.
And, of course, it chokes on the deliberately misspelled "flavor" words, but that is no problem.
I have run all three books though it and found hundreds of errors and suggestions, then gave one to a real editor and she found only a few left. So it did a really good job - far better than my self-editing by reading.
It is definitely worth the money - at least for me.
More on self-editing.
I have been testing Grammerly as one of the tools for proofing and it is a definite help. Actually, a really good help. It is definitely NOT a "submit book and receive perfectly edited text in return." Far from it.
But, it will find many hard-to-see-by-the-author errors and the continual referencing back and forth from the text column to the suggested error lists somehow makes the mind reset and see problems that it would overlook in just a straight reading.
Often I disagree with the findings, but at least I see them.
And, of course, it chokes on the deliberately misspelled "flavor" words, but that is no problem.
I have run all three books though it and found hundreds of errors and suggestions, then gave one to a real editor and she found only a few left. So it did a really good job - far better than my self-editing by reading.
It is definitely worth the money - at least for me.
But, it will find many hard-to-see-by-the-author errors and the continual referencing back and forth from the text column to the suggested error lists somehow makes the mind reset and see problems that it would overlook in just a straight reading.
Often I disagree with the findings, but at least I see them.
And, of course, it chokes on the deliberately misspelled "flavor" words, but that is no problem.
I have run all three books though it and found hundreds of errors and suggestions, then gave one to a real editor and she found only a few left. So it did a really good job - far better than my self-editing by reading.
It is definitely worth the money - at least for me.
March 28, 2016
New Proofing
As of 3/28/16
All three books have just been proofread by an editor and are about to be gone over by yet another. If you have downloaded them, but have not yet read any, then you should pull down new copies. Lots of grammer fixes in all.
All three books have just been proofread by an editor and are about to be gone over by yet another. If you have downloaded them, but have not yet read any, then you should pull down new copies. Lots of grammer fixes in all.
March 26, 2016
Thus it begins.
I will begin this blog with something that many people know - unless they are a movie writer or producer.
Certainly anyone reading this blog has seen at least a few Hollywood costumers about Rome. And all of those movies, if they have anything military at all, will have the soldiers saluting their superiors with the official gesture of the Roman military. That is, holding the elbow level with the shoulder, then bringing the forearm to the chest before extending it straight to the front.
It is very dramatic and quite martial. Unfortunately, it is also without any known historical foundation. It has been copied innumerable times – by the Nazis, the Fascists – even the Americans with the Bellamy salute from the 1800’s. Certainly the Legionaries used some sort of salute, but no historical documents, paintings or statuary support our accepted version of that time. I doubt that the actual gesture would have been so dramatic.
Salutes in the military are used for respect – to a superior, the flag, an honorable deed – but the original purpose, and by far the most important, is for an officer to know that his order has been heard and received. Many a command has been lost in the clamor of an engagement, or later, under the boom of gunfire – the failure of delivery unnoticed by the commander. Often the result is a missed opportunity or even a lost battle. A salute is the non-verbal reply over the chaos, of Aye Aye, Yes Sir, Roger or Wilco. And I suspect that the Roman gesture, as given in the movies, is far too complicated to be used in the heat of battle. Probably, it was a simple raising of the flat hand to the head, just as is used today.
Certainly anyone reading this blog has seen at least a few Hollywood costumers about Rome. And all of those movies, if they have anything military at all, will have the soldiers saluting their superiors with the official gesture of the Roman military. That is, holding the elbow level with the shoulder, then bringing the forearm to the chest before extending it straight to the front.
It is very dramatic and quite martial. Unfortunately, it is also without any known historical foundation. It has been copied innumerable times – by the Nazis, the Fascists – even the Americans with the Bellamy salute from the 1800’s. Certainly the Legionaries used some sort of salute, but no historical documents, paintings or statuary support our accepted version of that time. I doubt that the actual gesture would have been so dramatic.
Salutes in the military are used for respect – to a superior, the flag, an honorable deed – but the original purpose, and by far the most important, is for an officer to know that his order has been heard and received. Many a command has been lost in the clamor of an engagement, or later, under the boom of gunfire – the failure of delivery unnoticed by the commander. Often the result is a missed opportunity or even a lost battle. A salute is the non-verbal reply over the chaos, of Aye Aye, Yes Sir, Roger or Wilco. And I suspect that the Roman gesture, as given in the movies, is far too complicated to be used in the heat of battle. Probably, it was a simple raising of the flat hand to the head, just as is used today.
