One's already broken 70000 words
Insanity........
I have suddenly gotten a new close relationship with the dictionary on my computer, which I had never used before I saw the right click option on one of the words underlined with red - "Look up in Dictionary". And so I did, and thus I found a thingy that apparently contains New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus, Apple Dictionary and an access to Wikipedia...
Only downside is that I make an effort to write British English rather than American English.
Btw, most of the time I completely ignore the underlined words - not because I ignore misspellings, I correct those almost immediately, but because I'm using so darned many made up words. I'm not cheating with my word count, I'm just writing high fantasy, it's difficult not to name things odd names! D:
Bad side about the dictionary: It is wickedly distracting. Also quite entertaining, I mean, look at this bit:
What we discern we see apart from all other objects (: to discern the lighthouse beaming on the far shore).
Descry puts even more emphasis on the distant or unclear nature of what we're seeing (: the lookout was barely able to descry a man approaching in the dusk).
To discriminate is to perceive the differences between or among things that are very similar; it may suggest that some aesthetic evaluation is involved (: to discriminate between two painters' styles).
Distinguish requires making even finer distinctions among things that resemble each other even more closely (: unable to distinguish the shadowy figures moving through the forest). Distinguish can also mean recognizing by some special mark or outward sign (: the sheriff could be distinguished by his silver badge).
Differentiate, on the other hand, suggests the ability to perceive differences between things that are easily confused. In contrast to distinguish, differentiate suggests subtle differences that must be compared in some detail (: the color of her dress was difficult to differentiate from the color of the chair in which she was seated;: it took a sharp eye to distinguish where her skirt ended and the upholstery began).
If you have trouble differentiating among these closely related verbs, you're not alone.
On a positive note, I'm technically on my second day of writing and already have more than 4000 words. On the negative note that goes with this, I started two or three days late. And on a wtf-am-I-doing note, I just typed 200+ words here instead of continuing my novel.
And yes, I actually did have someone set something on fire in the bit I wrote on Guy Fawkes day. >_>
Haha:
a vulgar joke: rude, indecent, indelicate, offensive, distasteful, coarse, crude, ribald, risque, naughty, suggestive, racy, earthy, off-color, bawdy, obscene, profane, lewd, salacious, smutty, dirty, filthy, pornographic, X-rated; sleazy, raunchy, blue, locker-room; saucy, salty; adult. ANTONYMS decent, inoffensive.
Can you tell I'm distracted?
