My default word processing program for years has been WordPerfect. I’m talking decades that I clung stubbornly to WordPerfect because I HATE Word which is hideously user UNfriendly. Then a few months ago, I discovered Scrivener, and WOW!!! I moved ALL my writing projects over to it (I still use WP for everything else). I’m totally happy with Scrivener, but have found for some things I really do need to use Word, like for creating PDF files for my beta readers. In the process, however,, I managed to learn a little about Word, which is still a huge p.i.t.a, but still. I discovered not only the spell check but the grammar check function! This has been just amazing. The other thing is that many of my manuscripts are fairly old, or at least started out years ago, back when it was required to put two spaces after a period. So in these few days since I finished NaNoWriMo and was allowing myself some down-time, I took each of my manuscripts in Scrivener, compiled them to a docx file, then opened them in Word and search/replaced the double spaces, and ran the spell and grammar check on each one. Really, I was surprised at what Word picked up… it questioned word choices, punctuation, capitalization, made suggestions. Having run this on each manuscript, I actually feel much more confident that they’re in excellent shape to be sent out. While I do completely understand that sending to a professional editor is optimal, I don’t have the money. It’s simply not an option. My beta readers are awesome too! And now I’ve discovered this Word function, I’ll run my manuscripts through that battery before sending to my beta readers, which I know they’ll appreciate! I’d rather them be focusing on plot, characterization, etc., anyway. In general, as a career secretary for decades, we’re not talking about a really messy manuscript, but mistakes do slip through, even with manuscripts that I’ve edited and reedited dozens of times, and then a beta reader finds a mistake and it’s like, grrrrrrrrrrrrr how did I miss that?! So those are the ones that Word is catching now, and I’m thrilled to death 🙂