The revision process continues as I return to the notes I took while reading through the edited version of my manuscript. Though my editor made changes throughout the manuscript, there were some sections where she posed questions and possible fixes without making a change.
In most cases, these “unfixed” sections had issues with continuity or the necessity of a paragraph. In many ways, I love how my editor highlighted these areas and posed questions, rather than blatantly telling me what to do. She is essentially asking me to make sure my vision is rock solid by questioning what I’ve written or suggesting clarification. There are four sections where I’m still thinking and making decisions. She was right to put the spotlight on these areas and I love how I’m being forced to scrutinize them.
However, other comments focused on word usage. There are several places where my editor knew a word that I’d chosen was wrong, but she didn’t want to replace it and lose the essence of what I was trying to say. She highlighted them and provided a list of replacement words or simply told me the word I’d used was incorrectly applied. For some of these issues, I chose a word from her list, but for others I’ve had to dig a little.
Hence, the Thesaurus Rex.
Grrrrrrrr! Let me find the right word with my teeny tiny arms!
Over the last week I’ve been hunting through my thesaurus collection (I have several varieties of thesauri sitting on my bookshelf) and on thesaurus.com to find the perfect word for each “hiccup” listed in my notes. So, when I saw the above Thesaurus Rex on Facebook, I just about died laughing. Not just because he’s cute, but because a friend and I have a ridiculous obsession with T-Rex memes.
Hee hee!
Anyway, the Thesaurus Rex has come in handy to change words like slur, demand, strange, inspire, shines, mistake, and precedence. I’m still working on a few of them, but I should have replacements pegged in no time. This process is all the more proof to me than one word really can make a difference!
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p.s. You can get the Thesaurus Rex on a t-shirt! Click on the image!
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c.b.w. 2014
C.B. Wentworth 