Spellcheck as Entertainment

Tim was reading the book I just finished, and found a spelling error. I decided to go back through and run the spell check again. I have it set to alert me when I type something it doesn't like, but sometimes even the wiggly red line isn't enough to catch my attention when I'm typing. It's not enough to get my attention when I'm editing the stupid thing six times, either, apparently.

That said, when I ran a complete spell check, I found some wonderfully entertaining replacement word suggestions. Next time I do that, I'm going to write the funnier ones down, because I have a memory like a sieve. Here is the main one I remember:

It wanted to correct "velociraptor" to "velocipede." These are two very different things. I picture a dinosaur dressed as a Victorian gentleman riding a pennyfarthing.

I also tend to make up words, or smoosh words together to make new words. Spell check doesn't like this. I can't really remember any of the suggestions it offered to replace words like "kiester" and "recombobulated," but it doesn't really matter. The fact I had to teach it to recognize "berjillion" as an acceptable word that people would understand is inherent to a conversational writing style.

My original idea for this blog post today was to report on the success of writing as a sleep aid. I managed nearly 2k words yesterday, and would have slept great, if I hadn't first woken up in the middle of the night sweating, and then again an hour later freezing cold. That's what happens when it goes from 50 degrees outside down to 20 degrees outside over the course of a few hours. The heater overcompensates to catch up to the temperature drop and roasts me. I kick off the blankets, and then an hour later, when the heater thinks it has everything under control, the basement where my bedroom is begins cooling back down faster than the upstairs does. Unfortunately, the thermostat's sensor is upstairs, so the heat doesn't kick back on when it starts to get freezy in the basement again, and I end up icing over. (And yes, freezy would be the kind of word I love, but spell check hates.)

Overall, though, writing really helped my brain rest last night. Experiment successful. I'm NEVER skipping writing again. Here's the new total:

Words: 6,815
Pages: 24

I can't tell you how good it feels to have an actual update! :) The plot is starting to come together now, and once it gets going, the writing pace really picks up.

I have a lot to do today that has nothing to do with writing, though. I've got a few errands that have to be done today, and then I have to pressure-wash and prepare the deck for staining. Big Fun! Ack. Time to get going on all the stuff I have to do, so I'll be able to write eventually today.