new droid x owner, how to preview lengthy text messages??

[hemi1300]

Just got my new droid x a few days ago and so far love it, but have a question. When typing a lengthy text message, like the length of a paragraph, then pre-viewing the text message to check for errors, all the screen gives u is a tiny box and u have to try and scroll through the whole message in this tiny little box. It's a pain in the butt, trying to slide my finger sideways to slide through the message, and half the time it ends up inserting words. Is there any way to pop up a box that shows the whole message, or any advice u guys can give