Magical Lines

Do you ever find yourself reading a book and stumble upon a line that makes you do this:

Ahh, those magical lines. Beautiful words, beautiful rhythm, beautiful imagery.

It's rare to find such lines. It's rare to right them. But when you do either of both it is so, so, so rewarding. 

I'll admit I have an Anne Shirley way of writing: depths of despair, marble halls, etc. (If you don't know who Anne Shirley is, look it up! Gilbert Blythe is swoon worthy.) It's taken me a long time to find a good balance between too pretty writing and writing that moves the plot along.

A book that really helped me to find the right groove for my style wasn't a "craft" book. It was a fictional YA book. One of my favorite actually.

The Wrath & The Dawn.

If you want to read beautiful lines, you better pick this one up.

Do you guys have any favorite lines that you've read or written? You show me yours and I'll show you mine! Or you can just check out my Twitter. I'm a fan of #1linewed. 

The Dreaded Typo

Typos are the last thing you want to see in your writing. Not only are they embarrassing, they make it look unprofessional and sloppy. Kind of like this horrendous typo I discovered in Anne of Avonlea. Twice! 

If you're a Anne of Green Gables fan you understand why this is such a big deal. It's Anne with an 'e.' The main character even says so herself! Sheesh. Typos, see what I mean? They're bad.
As a writer (or just someone in general), you should work hard to avoid typos at all costs. Which is why I'm going to offer a few worthwhile tips, young padawans.

Emily Layne's Tips for Typo-less Texts:

1. Read your book in a different format. Print it out. Stick it on your tablet/Kindle (how to here). Seeing the words in a changed venue will make things pop out that wouldn't before. I'm noticing tons reading THESE WICKED WATERS on my tablet!
2. Listen to your book aloud. Not only does this guard against typos, it helps you pinpoint awkward phrasing. Of course you can read aloud to yourself, but the voicebox wears out after awhile. A bunch of free text-to-speech options exist. I use NaturalReader and have it downloaded to my computer. The basic version is free. Which makes using it even sweeter. If you don't mind clicking "close" every five-ten minutes.
3. Get a beta reader. Confession time. Sometimes, we're just too close to our work. We need an outsider to read it and point out things we miss. Which is why beta readers are so valuable! Get yourself one (I even beta read; you can ask me!) ASAP!