Whether you are writing a 50,000 word novel or a 12 line poem, you do not want to have your credibility as a craftsman questioned because your work is sprinkled with typos, incorrect punctuation or misspelled words. No one is perfect, and errors creep through in even the most diligently scrutinised pieces.

If you were a mechanic you wouldn't think of starting a job on that Maserati without a precision set of spanners and gauges. Nor would a joiner use the heel of a shoe to drive a nail into a board. Writing is a specialised craft requiring its own set of tools. You may not be the next Stephen King but you can at least use the same tools. Whether you write with a number two pencil on a legal pad, talk into a tape recorder or have at your command the most state-of-the-art word processing system on the market, every piece of writing must end up in the hands of a reader in some printed or electronically transmitted form. What can you do to guarantee it's your point that hits home and not an apparent lack of care on your part? There are plenty of tools at your disposal.

But before you make your silk purse out of it, you have to get your sow's ear! When you feel that spurt of creativity, you should try to turn off proofreading mode. Even if you know you have typed something incorrectly, let it go. If you stop to clean up all the little errors, you may lose a thought. For the record, I don't always practise what I preach. For just that reason, I never got very far writing by hand on a pad of paper. The process of getting the words out of my head onto the page was painfully slow and I was distracted by the ugliness of my scribbles on the page. I found myself using the eraser more than the pencil. For my 16th birthday I got a typewriter and things were a little better. I learned to touch type after a fashion, but was still frustrated when I saw a typo emerge. It was my inclination to live with a badly formed sentence because it was easier than retyping the whole page. I eventually discovered erasable bond and in college became expert at drawing corrections with a .005 mm mechanical pencil — which I sentimentally still use for most of my hand written notes! Access to a computer word processor has really opened the door for me. I don't find that my typing is any better now — if anything, it's worse than ever — but at least now I can get my thoughts captured before they manage to disappear into the ether. And there is a kind of perverse pleasure in being able to write things bass-ackwards then sort them out later. Using a computer comes with its own problems, however, and one thing every computer user must inevitably learn the hard way is the importance of saving your work as you go.

Once the thoughts have been liberated, you must eventually get them into some kind of order. When it comes to order, most of the hints worth passing on come from my husband. If it is a poem, and metre seems to count for something, then try converting the text to a table, so you can work more easily with the form. When writing something lengthier (such as a novel) create a second document which will become your reference bible. Let's assume that you have given your novel the working title of Moonwalker. Then you might create a file called moonbibl.doc. In this file you could keep your story outline, a timeline of relevant events and the curriculum vitae of each character. Even if you don't choose to use the precise details later in your work, you can give your characters astrological signs, relatives, favourite colours and foods and their own quirky habits. This helps to give them substance and helps them to come to life in your mind as well. Whether you order your thoughts in advance of writing them or just track your progress with this tool you are sure to find it useful.

On a table next to my computer I keep two books which I refer to often: a good dictionary and Rodale's The Synonym Finder. My husband prefers to use a dictionary and thesaurus on a CD-ROM, while I like the feel of the pages in my hands. It's interesting that he has no trouble writing with pen on paper but likes to use the electronic reference while the reverse is true for me; to each his own. Word processing software usually has a limited dictionary and thesaurus which you can refer to while you are using it. Take care in selecting a dictionary which you can work with. I prefer one which will not only give good definitions but which will discuss conflicts of usage and give derivations of words. We have several in our library including dictionaries of slang, music, fables, quotes, and languages, including French, Spanish, German, Irish and Scots. It is good to have a current one when it comes to technical jargon and very old ones are often good for finding archaic references and interesting, if not wholly accurate, points of view.

A thesaurus can be a good way to get distracted. Sometimes this can be productive. I find that one of my poems might subdivide into more than one after I've allowed myself to wander in the pages of my Rodale's. But when I have a creative flow going, I can't afford that interruption. If I can't find precisely the right word within a minute or two, I will insert a substitute into brackets and come back to it later:

She drove like a [bug] out of hell.

Take care when you use a thesaurus, especially if it provides you with a word with which you are not familiar. Look up all the related words, and make sure the usage is appropriate for your needs.

Now that your first draft is finished, it's time to break up long sentences, correct grammatical errors and check punctuation and spelling. I run the spelling checker of my word processor first, which is usually good for a laugh. In this article, for example, Macerate was suggested as a change for Maserati. Don't give this useful tool too much power. Also remember that while a word may be spelled correctly, it might not be the correct one for the job.(e.g. homonymns: there/their/they're). Another good tool is an English grammar. You can probably locate one in a used book store — try to find one with lots of examples. If you don't like to spend time thumbing through boring pages, check out the Transitive Vampire which may be a little basic but covers the important things, entertaining you in the process.

Some word processors can be set to auto correct automatically as you go, changing common mistypings of certain words, or highlighting misspellings, incorrect usage, poor grammar, etc. I find these features to be somewhat annoying, especially when writing poetry, where I like to deliberately break those rules. You might find it educational to let your word processor's grammar checker run for you at least once. You can modify the format options to include those features you find useful. Don't ignore the obvious editing features, such as Cut, Paste, Copy and Undo

Once you have completed a first sort, correcting spelling errors and repeated words and glancing through the text for obvious boo-boos, save your file. Then print a rough draft of your work, double-spaced with generous margins. First do a quick read through, out loud if you can get away with it. This will point out awkward language and lack of continuity. Make notes in the margins as you go. Don't worry about the fine tuning yet. Once you have completed this step go through it again, paragraph by paragraph, making the noted changes. If you decide that part of it needs to be cut, think twice before deleting the extra words. You may want to save them in a text archive for potential future use. If you are using a word processor, you can make use of some of its features to help you with these changes. Say, for example, that you have changed the spelling of a character's name midway through the process, and you keep bumping into misspelled versions as you read. You can use the software's Replace function to make the changes. You must be careful with this, however. In one instance I wanted to change the use of Ms. to Mrs. throughout, but because I didn't make the appropriate restrictions to word matching and case, I acquired a couple of sentences ending in worMrs. and reforMrs. If you know you are prone to switching the homonyms their and there, you can use the Find function to step you through each instance and fix any problems that you find.

If you are so inclined, you can find software packages which will analyse style and grammatical construction, help you with plots, rhyme schemes and quotes. There are even disks available with complete texts of works, now out of copyright, which are legal to draw from.

If you are lucky enough to have generous, literate and critical friends, by all means let them look at your work, though don't depend on them completely. And don't bite their heads off when they show you your mistakes — show your gratitude, even if your ego is injured. It never hurts to have another pair of eyes. Each time you look at this work, you will likely find another thing that needs to be fixed.