Writing is a challenge. We who love to write feel joy, pain, anxiety, rage, sadness, the full gamut. After all, our work is a part of us. The stress of meeting a deadline or even just writing for fun is challenging enough, but after you’ve finished that first draft and re-edited and re-edited… and re-edited, how do we know we have a perfect product? If you are to follow the unwritten code of editing, you’ve surely heard the phrase “read your manuscript out loud.”

Sure, it’s our baby, why not? But we’re in the 21st century, here’s an idea, wouldn’t it be great if your computer could read it to you – like it did for Captain Kirk?

Believe it or not, if you used Microsoft Word to create your masterpiece, the geniuses at Microsoft already did the work for you, and you don’t even have to be on the bridge of the Enterprise to access this marvel. There’s a built-in app for Office 2010 and newer to allow your document to be read to you. It’s easy to set up and in no time you can have your words read out loud to you. Besides, wouldn’t it be better for you to just sit back with a pair of earbuds and a cup of coffee and have your laptop do the work? You need to save your vocal cords for the Pulitzer and Keynote addresses you’ll be making.

Follow these steps to allow Microsoft Office products to read your documents.

For users of Office 365, Word 2019 and 2016, Microsoft has a plug-in called “Read Aloud.” To access:

· Open a document.

· Click or tap at the beginning of the passage you want to hear.

· Place your cursor at the beginning of the document to read the whole document aloud.

· Select Review > Read Aloud.

For Office 2010-2013 it’s a little trickier, but doable. Open an Office app, like Word:

· Click FILE then click OPTIONS

· Click CUSTOMIZE RIBBON

· Click CHOOSE COMMANDS FROM” section, click down arrow and select COMMANDS NOT IN THE RIBBON

· Scroll down to SPEAK. Highlight it, then

· In the CUSTOMIZE THE RIBBON group, click the HOME (in the MAIN TABS group), click the NEW GROUP button at bottom of window, click RENAME, in the pop-up window, type Speak and choose any icon and click OK.

· Make sure SPEAK is still highlighted in the left column and click ADD in the middle of the panels

· Click OK, and the speak icon will appear on your HOME ribbon on the far right when you go back to your office product.

· Open a document, highlight a block of words, and click Speak. Enjoy your cup of Joe.

Go on, give it a try. Your laptop is your silent writing partner anyway. Give it a chance to use its voice.

BIO: Attracted to words at an early age, Rod’s first book was created in grade school, his teacher used it to encourage creativity in her students. His high school English teacher told him to try short story writing, he listened, and the rest – as they say, is history. http://rodmartinez.us  and facebook.com/authorrodmartinez