Even if your text is destined for paper, the chances are that at the proofreading stage you’re looking at it on a screen. Because if you’re like me, you started out with a notebook and pen and wrote your ideas out longhand, then went to a computer to type up your ideas. Computers are definitely great for…
21st December is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. It is on this day that pagans meet at sacred sites, such as Stonehenge, to worship and welcome new sun. After this day, days get longer and more sun is going to come. As pagans celebrate and show reverence, awe and gratitude to the…
I mean the old-fashioned kind, the papery thing. It may seem a tad old-school these days, when most writing is done on a computer or an electronic notebook. Why would you need a notebook and pen? Well, one way in to the proofreading task is to make a to-do list of things you know you’ll…
It’s rare to meet someone you feel shares your creative and spiritual DNA. It’s even more rare to get to work with them. But that is what I’ve been doing recently. It feels like I’ve come home. We spent a long time talking; I got to know where she was coming from, and fell in…
When you’re proofreading your own text there’s nowhere to hide. If there are any typos – SPAG, syntax, factual errors – you can’t blame your proofreader. Your proofreader is you. What’s more, if your writing is going to appear online, you will have additional proofreaders: your readers. You can’t blame these people either. While in…
My husband plays the guitar and composes his own music. After a recent period of intense creativity in which he’d composed several pieces he was pleased with, there was a piece that just wasn’t going his way. He had the body of a song and some ideas for an intro but nothing that felt right. He was…
I recently read something I wrote more than a year ago and had forgotten about. It was like reading something written by another person. Coming to it fresh I was able to appreciate it in a completely different way from if I had just written it. Not only can revisiting old pieces of work do wonders for your…
There will always be days when words come slowly, or not at all. Here’s what we can do to encourage them: 1) Be polite. Ask the muse, don’t just expect her to show up. When she does, thank her. 2) Ask the words. Ask for their permission to use them. If you can, be specific…
“It’s not you, it’s me.” That moment in a relationship where one of you has to get away. In this case the one who has to get away is you – from your words. Writing is a relationship between you and your words. And as with any relationship, writing is always a step into the…
I was recently struck by this tweet: Japanese believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. – Barbara Bloom pic.twitter.com/BZ7OIzRazK — Mateusz M (@themateuszm) 2 July 2016 I always love discovering words for which there is no English equivalent. And not only does this one describe a powerful metaphor for…
