Yesterday, children from across the country competed in the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. All of these young people deserve great admiration for their incredible talent, dedication, and competitive spirits, particularly the co-champions Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe who tied for first place after exhausting the entire word list! Yet, I always reflect on … [Read more...] about Bad Spellers Can Be Good Writers
writing tips
Seven Ways to Find Writing Ideas for Your Business Blog
From Internet marketing to social networking, today's businesses are expected to create more fresh content than ever before. And an important platform for publication continues to be the company blog. But finding writing ideas for your business blog can be difficult. Here are a few places to turn next time blog-writer's block strikes: 1. Visit customer support forums. If … [Read more...] about Seven Ways to Find Writing Ideas for Your Business Blog
How to Hire an Editor, Part 3: Tips for Working with Your Editor
Throughout this how-to series, we've explored various editing services and ways to find editors online and through professional organizations. We've also discussed the finer points of interviewing and hiring editors. Let's wrap things up with five tips for working with your editor so that you can make the most of your editing experience: 1. Document Everything As mentioned in … [Read more...] about How to Hire an Editor, Part 3: Tips for Working with Your Editor
How to Hire an Editor, Part 2: Interviews, Payments, and Schedules
Over the past several weeks, we've discussed different types of services provided by freelance editors and how to find editors through Internet searches and professional organizations. Today, we'll cover the final phases of the hiring process: interviewing an editor, discussing payment, and establishing a schedule. Interviewing an Editor Once you've narrowed down your search … [Read more...] about How to Hire an Editor, Part 2: Interviews, Payments, and Schedules
How to Hire an Editor, Part 1: Where to Find an Editor
Last week we talked about the different types of editing services provided by freelance editors: developmental editing, substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading. Today we'll get down to the nitty-gritty of how to hire an editor or editors for your project. Deciding What You Need Will Help You Figure Out Whom You Need In a perfect world, every writer would hire a … [Read more...] about How to Hire an Editor, Part 1: Where to Find an Editor
Avoid the Trendy Term “First World Problems”
Lately I've noticed a questionable trend in articles and blog posts: authors describing our daily challenges as First World problems. The intention behind this description is to acknowledge that so-called Second- and Third World countries are dealing with different problems than those found in highly industrialized nations. Many countries certainly do face struggles that … [Read more...] about Avoid the Trendy Term “First World Problems”
Five Tips for Editing Your Own Writing
Have you ever edited your own writing several times, confident that you caught every typo and misplaced punctuation? But then you decide to give the piece one last go-round and you find an obvious error that you missed? I have too. To avoid that frustration, here are my top five tips for editing your own writing. 1. Play the Waiting Game Wait as long as possible between … [Read more...] about Five Tips for Editing Your Own Writing