Thursday, March 27, 2008

Cunning linguist

This is a post about the importance of editing, editing and re-editing your writing. The best tip I can give you is to print out each draft, go to a quiet place and read it out loud. Your mouth will catch mistakes your mind didn't and the other way around.

Yesterday, I wrote a story for the newspaper about the recent sale of a local inn. See if you can catch the mistake I made in draft one:

"The couple found it serendipitous and sweet that each harbored a deep-seeded desire to one day own an inn."

Now check this out.

If I hadn't followed my own advice I wouldn't have caught that error and it would have ended up in the newspaper and I would have looked like a giant asshole. And no, my editor did not catch it. That puppy was well on its way to the copy desk before I noticed the mistake and made the change.

Now get out there and make that change!

2 comments:

Le Meems said...

A hahahaha

I just made a boo boo with segue and seguway. It only ran in a wittle old local rag, but still.

argh!

Signed,
Eileen Dover

Lily Writes said...

Arg is right Ms. Dover. Next time, let someone else's eyes peruse your work.

Yours,
Marsha Mallow