Sorry, Ed

[Lor]

Yep, "messing" should have been "messy." Looking at it now, I should have said "untidy." Urgh! Just when I thought it was safe to come out of the water. I think I'll let them sit until next spring like I did the Arthur piece.

What I've learned this week.

1) Proofread
2) Don't use semicolons (only because I get it wrong half the time and there are other ways to write the thing.) I always thought semicolons were used to join two complete sentences. My S&W tells me there's more to it than that. Would love to master it, but for now ... periods work just as well.
3) Forget the pretty, shiny words. Keep it simple and to the point. Sans wordiness.
4) Proofread (yes,I know)
5) Don't hurry.
6) Be aware of every turn of phrase to avoid awkwardness and confusion in the flow.
7) Proofread (uh-huh)
8) Listen to my instincts. They're usually much smarter than me.
9) Learn to write in tongues (as Celeste does) and use the critique thread.
10) Review word choice when you ..... see step 11.
11) Proofread.

Oh, there's more, but I'm dizzy and off to the corner.

Lorraine

[Ed]

It's really not necessary to apologize to me or beat yourself up. It *is* confounding to get a piece that has obviously been polished alongside submissions with errors that, to me, appear obvious (and I know they aren't always obvious to the writer), if that helps you to see it from the editing perspective.

The key here is to take your time and relax. If you're too keyed up or anxious over your piece, you're setting yourself up for errors. Write your pieces, then take a break, make a pot of tea (do not drink a glass of wine, though it will make the process more fun), and go back to your articles. Then rest. The next day, or a couple of days after, proofread again while your eyes are fresh before you've written anything else.

I think many writers feel that this type of process will result in them getting behind in their writing. But really, if you keep several articles in the pipeline at once and work on them at different stages of their development over the course of a few days, you'll be able to really make them shine. Those weird typos that you glossed over yesterday will stand out in neon tomorrow.

If you have a printer, you can also print them out and mark them up.

Writing style. For web content, straightforward is almost always best. I think you found a happy medium in your Arthur article. For example, the sentence that describes Merlin's ghostly voice echoing off the stone is wonderfully descriptive, but it says exactly what you mean in a clear way. Bounce your phrases off of the authors in the forum if you are uncertain about them. If you sound like Merlin, maybe time to come back to the 21st century.

If you haven't seen the tips I posted for self-editing, here they are. Maybe you will find them useful.
http://www.constant-content.com/forum/v ... =4&t=14407

Thanks,
Ed

[Lor]

Long ... Breath ... Out
Shoulders ... Down

Thank you for that.
Lorraine