The latest update to Word includes a “grading” sidebar that scores my grammar as I write. As I try to burn and reinvent language you can only imagine how my score fluctuates. This feature makes the annoying old paperclip seem like a friend. Have you encountered this irritation? Are we ready to bail to Open Source?
WPS is your friend. I havent used it much, because I use Google Docs, but tech companies are conquistadors of the useless who design applications for people who hate having agency.
Google Docs capitalizes and changes words automatically and it is infuriating. Just let me type what I want to type. I am unpredictable text.
When did everyone decide that having zero control over the things that they do was cool with them?
I wasn’t there for Clippy, but I understand it and agree this is like a Clippy Twitter social justice warrior. I’ve been told my word usage is “offensive” for fiction story dialogue. These recent updates are incredibly frustrating when writing poetry as well.
Nah, not ready to bail. I just roll with it. I am used to someone or something pointing out what I am doing wrong. I try to learn from it while not taking it personally; it is a program and therefore doesn't always recognize creative geniuses like us!
Couldn’t this work in your favour? Like seeing the prompt just reminds you that you’re making a conscious effort to burn the language -- which is as intended.
personally, I use manuskript! keeps my stuff organized, it's open source, free, and looks good to me. I'd suggest backing it up every so often, but otherwise I've never had a problem.
UPS just arrived. You’re awesome, Chuck! I was smart and opened this one outside. Never gonna rid my house of last year’s iridescent tinsel. Might be a selling point, though. “That’s Chuck Palahniuk’s arts & crafts herpes shimmering beneath the baseboards, tangled in the carpets, and whistling in the vents!” But seriously, thank you!
I've been using Google Docs for about a decade, and I've only used Pages a few times to see if there were any new features worth switching for.
I haven't lost a single word while typing in the last decade, although I think that's less of a problem these days with Word. However, I cannot confirm this as I don't use it.
Google Docs (now Google Drive) does have an offline version that works across devices, so you can keep notes on your writing on the go, even on your phone. I use this quite often when I have sudden ideas and want to add them to the outline of my book to check later when it's time to write.
I have multiple books in various stages of completion, with partially fleshed-out outlines waiting to be written. Most of the notes were added when I was out and about, away from my computer, and had an idea that I might not remember later if I didn't capture it in the moment.
Getting feedback on your reading is quite easy too by sharing your doc with someone in commenter mode only or you can let them suggest edits, sort of like when a teacher crosses out a sentence but then includes the new sentence in its place. I assume word has that too, but google docs was the original real time multi-person document editing platform and there are few that come close to it from my experience. Suggesting mode is pretty cool when working with multiple people.
I jumped into a Grammarly-esque program for more cash than I'd like to admit. Like lots of other things I put stock in, I calmly awaited salvation that it kinda-sorta promised. My wife looked at some sample work, then looked at me, then frowned a little. That's how I felt in my heart.
I think the "do this, it's better" apps may accidentally, or purposefully, be the devil?
I hate those tools. I'm using the word Hate here. I go into the bowels of user preferences and close it immediately. As with any auto-correct or spellcheck. When I'm typing and a squiggly appears, I can't quite ignore it. But if I go back and "fix" it, often I lose that bit of ethereal momentum.
Here, I will advocate for the devil known as Clippy (and its ilk). I volunteer as an Adult Basic Education and ESL teacher, and those tools I hate for creative flow are wonderful for learners. If you never spent time on spelling / typing / grammar and now the economy has changed so that entry level jobs require a keyboard interface, those tools are a great asset. To create a fresh hell for myself I enrolled in a Coding Bootcamp, and the code editor VS Code has a very similar function which I rely on heavily.
So in the art of writing, such tools are like putting a cast on our third eye. In the modern Lord of the Flies that is middle-class survivalism, it is an asset.
Maybe they should call it the "grating" sidebar, given its likelihood of annoying just about everyone. I hope there's a way to turn it off. ;)
Gramnerly would not be your friend. 🤣😂
Gosh, I love that term, "reinvent language".
WPS is your friend. I havent used it much, because I use Google Docs, but tech companies are conquistadors of the useless who design applications for people who hate having agency.
Google Docs capitalizes and changes words automatically and it is infuriating. Just let me type what I want to type. I am unpredictable text.
When did everyone decide that having zero control over the things that they do was cool with them?
That does sound annoying. Can it be disabled?
Dude, just use Word's “Focus” mode. When keyboarding, I can’t stand to look at anything on the screen other than my own gibberish.
I wasn’t there for Clippy, but I understand it and agree this is like a Clippy Twitter social justice warrior. I’ve been told my word usage is “offensive” for fiction story dialogue. These recent updates are incredibly frustrating when writing poetry as well.
Nah, not ready to bail. I just roll with it. I am used to someone or something pointing out what I am doing wrong. I try to learn from it while not taking it personally; it is a program and therefore doesn't always recognize creative geniuses like us!
Like most things in Microsoft office, I suspect it can learn. I just teach it what I like and dislike or turn the feature off completely.
Maybe I'm the odd one out here, but I'm a big fan of writing with Scrivener.
Honestly I think someone like you Chuck would try to see how low of a score they could get while still having a great finished product.
Couldn’t this work in your favour? Like seeing the prompt just reminds you that you’re making a conscious effort to burn the language -- which is as intended.
Where's the Review > Burn Language option.
FWIW, I use free OpenOffice, started by Sun Microsystems but now maintained by Apache.
I tell it to shut up when text is between “quotation marks cause nimrodAI” or turn it off altogether.
Is it still possible to turn off the grammar checker? I've been working in Scrivener only for a long time.
I don't think I can count the number of times Chuck has clicked the "ignore suggestion" under a correction lol
This is the evolution of Clippy but like in Idiocracy. I love Scrivener but it took a minute to get used to.
Why even use Word to being with. Yeah I prefer Open Source, and sometimes I use Dark Room (look it up) for distraction free writing
Watching Misery as I cook tea and I'd love to see an Annie Wilkes proofreading prompt that shouts, 'You dirtybird!'
As a managing editor in children's book publishing by day, I am not a fan of this for a number of reasons.
Is there no way to shut that stupid garbage off? Who invented that?
Word is the opposite of open source.
I use an app called Ulysses. It's a distraction free environment.
https://ulysses.app/
APple devices only at this time
Bill Skates
I've been writing in Scrivener for YEEAARS.
Ulysses is my writing app. A power house in simplicity.
personally, I use manuskript! keeps my stuff organized, it's open source, free, and looks good to me. I'd suggest backing it up every so often, but otherwise I've never had a problem.
UPS just arrived. You’re awesome, Chuck! I was smart and opened this one outside. Never gonna rid my house of last year’s iridescent tinsel. Might be a selling point, though. “That’s Chuck Palahniuk’s arts & crafts herpes shimmering beneath the baseboards, tangled in the carpets, and whistling in the vents!” But seriously, thank you!
I loved that paperclip.
We might be able to abandon writing altogether. This is scary.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chat-with-ask-ai/id1668787639
I've been using Google Docs for about a decade, and I've only used Pages a few times to see if there were any new features worth switching for.
I haven't lost a single word while typing in the last decade, although I think that's less of a problem these days with Word. However, I cannot confirm this as I don't use it.
Google Docs (now Google Drive) does have an offline version that works across devices, so you can keep notes on your writing on the go, even on your phone. I use this quite often when I have sudden ideas and want to add them to the outline of my book to check later when it's time to write.
I have multiple books in various stages of completion, with partially fleshed-out outlines waiting to be written. Most of the notes were added when I was out and about, away from my computer, and had an idea that I might not remember later if I didn't capture it in the moment.
Getting feedback on your reading is quite easy too by sharing your doc with someone in commenter mode only or you can let them suggest edits, sort of like when a teacher crosses out a sentence but then includes the new sentence in its place. I assume word has that too, but google docs was the original real time multi-person document editing platform and there are few that come close to it from my experience. Suggesting mode is pretty cool when working with multiple people.
I jumped into a Grammarly-esque program for more cash than I'd like to admit. Like lots of other things I put stock in, I calmly awaited salvation that it kinda-sorta promised. My wife looked at some sample work, then looked at me, then frowned a little. That's how I felt in my heart.
I think the "do this, it's better" apps may accidentally, or purposefully, be the devil?
I use scrivener with the edits turned off. Damn those squiggle marks.
I hate those tools. I'm using the word Hate here. I go into the bowels of user preferences and close it immediately. As with any auto-correct or spellcheck. When I'm typing and a squiggly appears, I can't quite ignore it. But if I go back and "fix" it, often I lose that bit of ethereal momentum.
Here, I will advocate for the devil known as Clippy (and its ilk). I volunteer as an Adult Basic Education and ESL teacher, and those tools I hate for creative flow are wonderful for learners. If you never spent time on spelling / typing / grammar and now the economy has changed so that entry level jobs require a keyboard interface, those tools are a great asset. To create a fresh hell for myself I enrolled in a Coding Bootcamp, and the code editor VS Code has a very similar function which I rely on heavily.
So in the art of writing, such tools are like putting a cast on our third eye. In the modern Lord of the Flies that is middle-class survivalism, it is an asset.
Time for some Libre Office on the old Linux OS?
My friend Cathy ois known for malapropism/ which we entitled Catharsisisicm