"Read. Your. Shit. Out. Loud." Quothe the Wendigo.

[cenwolfgirl]

wont you get odd looks from the other people in the building if they walk in and see you talking aloud to your self?

[OZ]

Finally got it and read it. Thanks PG, I enjoyed it.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

wont you get odd looks from the other people in the building if they walk in and see you talking aloud to your self?

This is another benefit to having an office of my own.  I am still buzzed about this even after being here for a year and a half.

[blgarver]

I've heard over and over that this is helpful, but never took it seriously...mostly because I'm bashful about reading aloud - especially to myself.  But I've been working in the tv business for the better part of a decade and have to read voice overs all the time and sometimes be on camera.  So I might be prepared to read my stuff aloud.  I think desire to become a better writer has outweighed my stupid apprehension.

I will use my girlfriend as my listener.  This is going to be good.

[Paynesgrey]

You don't even need a listener.  I pace back and forth from my office to my living room and read to myself.  You're mouth will trip over things like double words and clunky dialogue on it's own.  Converting text to thought to speech lets you sidestep your brain's tendency to interpret what is actually written into what you think should be written.

[Paynesgrey]

A handy tool...  I save my drafts in .rtf, then load them to my phone via dropbox.

I recently found a text-to-speech reader called Ivona.  Lets you download various readers with various voices and accents, so you can have your phone read to you without it sounding like a Stephen Hawking bedtime story.  Hearing your work read to you is also a great way to spot typos, poor word choices, double-words, clunky dialogue, etc. 

So it's a free and easy way to have your stuff read to you while at work, or without dragooning a friend or family member to read to you...