Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

As writers, we have all the facts of the world at our fingertips. While writing, don’t stop the typing to find the correct term. Put a THINGY placeholder on the page and come back later.

Writing is easier than it used to be. Okay, anyone who tries to write can scream for a few moments and then resume reading. I will wait. Okay, time is up.

What I mean by that scream-creating statement is that facts are at our fingertips like at no other time in history. We can go online, Google machine or whatever you use, and there is the answer.

What do you call a utensil that you use to serve soup? Google “utensil to serve soup” and I learn it is a “ladle.” (I also learn how to spell it.)

When did Ford first make the Mustang? 1964.

What do you call a seed for a peach? A pit.

What do you call it when you roll around bread dough? Knead.

And we could go on forever (and never write anything – and that is a temptation to avoid).

We don’t have to make up words or write the wrong thing like, “he rolled bread dough” instead of “he kneaded the dough.” We have the right information.

The temptation is to stop writing and look up information. DON’T DO THAT!

Instead, while drafting, keep the fingers moving and the words appearing on the screen. Put a placeholder on the screen; come back to it later.

One way is to type, “He blah blah blah the dough.”

Another way is to type, “He THINGY the dough” or “He had an original THINGY Ford Mustang in his garage” or “He dropped the THINGY PEACH SEED in the hole.”

“THINGY” is easy to find by searching a draft of writing. It is also easy to spot on the paper. Come back later and replace all the THINGY occurrences with the correct word(s) provided by the Internet searching THINGY.