Blog
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I am your editor,
not (always) your friendFriendly and professional. That’s what I am to be in my business. In my interactions with clients and the care I give to my work, I am guided by those two qualities. However, despite my…
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Designed to delight and to inspire
It is unlikely to come as any surprise to you that I think about words a lot. Not only do I engage with them deeply and daily in my editing work, but I also enjoy…
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Thanks and best wishes in 2016
I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. There are many things I love about my job. One of the best aspects is the diversity of manuscripts that I get to edit. This year’s assortment…
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Say what? Editing spoken texts
I mean because the thing is because um like well you know how we don’t people don’t like talk like we write we sort of you know oh I’m going off over here and then…
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The pleasures of editing poetry
One of the wonderful things about my job is the opportunity I have to work with authors in a variety of genres. From novels to memoirs to academic texts, each style of writing presents a…
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“This… because… and… but…”:
A clever and flexible structureAs anyone with a even passing awareness of who Maria Popova is and what she does will know, there is much to admire about her. She is the one-woman wonder behind Brainpickings, the the extraordinary…
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The time it takes – and why it may be longer than you might think
First, you have to live. Before you can hatch an plot, be struck by inspiration or pursue that yearning to share your ideas with the world, you need to spend some time being alive. You…
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A word about adverbs
I use them often, as you may have noticed. Adverbs. They’re those nifty little words that, depending on your perspective, either give precision to your prose or needlessly clutter up the page. Some writers rail…
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The results of unexpectedness: Thoughts on ‘Life While-You-Wait’
Sometimes words find us in unexpected ways, falling into our minds like light piercing through the gloom. It happened like that with this poem, which was shared with me by a dear friend. Now I am…
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Exploring, experimenting, expressing: The value of journaling for writers
I’ll admit I may be a bit biased about this. For almost six years now, since July 2010, I have written every day in my journal. I didn’t necessarily intend for this to happen, and…
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An act of faith: Why language matters (even when it is inadequate)
For all its beauty, complexity and nuance, language is at times sadly inadequate. Certain experiences fall beyond words. They render us inarticulate, unstitching us from meaning and annihilating our ability to share the messy reality…
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Your fast and friendly guide to different kinds of editing
Over the last few months, I have published a number of articles about different kinds of editing and how they may be helpful to you. I am now collating this information into a quick guide…