Posts Tagged ‘editing’

Notes from Deborah’s Desk

Posted on: June 28th, 2012 by Deborah Plouffe No Comments

“Whatever success that I have had has been through writing
 what I know about.”

― Ernest Hemingway

I’ve had so many books writing themselves in my head for SO many years that I’ve decided that it’s time to let at least ONE of them out!

You might have noticed that our “5-Minute Fixes” have disappeared from the rewriter.ca website, but it’s certainly not because we’ve run out! I’ve taken the 50 best “fixes” and now I’m working at revamping and reworking them into an ebook that is set to publish this fall.

While I’m certainly well accustomed to the art of writing, and to the even finer art of editing the work of my peers, I found the idea of actually putting the book together to be a particularly daunting task. The content is all there, but it’s the arranging and rearranging that’s the challenge. It is interesting to see how it all evolves from the original flash of inspiration through all the trials and errors involved in producing a finished product.

There is ONE aspect of this book that is entirely finalized, though. We’ve finalized the donation of $2 from the sale of every book to go to WORLD LITERACY CANADA and we are SO excited to contribute to such a worth cause.  Please take a moment to review their website and learn more!

Despite the small challenges, this book WILL be finished (guess what MY summer project is!) and I’m really looking forward to sharing how these 50 five-minute tasks can make a big difference in both your business and your personal life.

Watch for the pre-launch near the end of the summer! CONTACT ME if you’d like to set aside your copy now!

What’s New on Rewriter.ca – September, 2011

Posted on: September 6th, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe 1 Comment

Following our successful 3-part webinar series “Anatomy of an e-Zine” we’re hard at work developing THREE new  offerings for newsletter publishers.

First, we are in the process of releasing the recordings and workbooks as a series of CDs and MP3 recordings for sale.

Second, we are working with Neworld Web Connect to develop a system to provide content and formatting for email newsletters and other correspondence.

Third, we are also working to compile the contents of the webinar, plus all the information that we have gleaned from the experts, into an eBook.

Watch the rewriter.ca website for more information as these products are developed.

Get It Write Tip June 2011

Posted on: July 8th, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe No Comments

When is it correct to use a semicolon?

Which two of these sentences uses the semicolon correctly?

1.    Canada is a great country; more than we realize.

2.    The evil that men do lives after them; the good is often interred with their bones, however. (apologies to The Bard here!)

3.    We have a wealth of knowledge; and, we also have a lot to learn.

4.    The keynote speakers were Jane Smith, vice-president of ABC Company; Joe Cool, local radio personality; and Jimmy Dean,  president of XYZ Affiliated.

Sentence 2 and 4 are correct.

The semicolon is used to separate two independent clauses when there is no coordinating conjunction between them. (words like and, but, so, for and yet)

Sentence 1 represents a pretty common example of misusing a semicolon. In this case, I think that a “rewrite” would be the best cure for this sentence, perhaps “Canada is a greater country than we realize.” If you must keep a sentence like this intact, you might replace the semicolon with a dash (–).

If we had used a comma instead of a semicolon in Sentence 2, we would have committed the error that we grammar-types call a comma splice. In this case, the comma wouldn’t be a strong enough punctuation mark to separate these two clauses, which are really two complete sentences.

Sentence 3 is almost correct. If we omit both the semicolon and the comma altogether, the sentence would read correctly. If you must impress by using a semicolon here, you can replace “and” with the word “however.”

Sentence 4 is correct because a semicolon is also used to separate items in a series with commas between them. In this case the semicolon is used to separate the three units of information because we are already using a comma to separate the speaker’s name from their title .

Take it easy, though! In my experience, semicolons should be used in small doses. Aim for a variety of sentence types and lengths with various punctuation marks to improve the readability of your writing.

What DO you do?

Posted on: April 27th, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe No Comments

It’s the “elevator pitch” question that we business owners love to answer…“What do you do?”

When I answer, “I’m a rewriter” I often receive a funny look, but I’m happy to expound. Traditional editing services often include PROOFREADING, which corrects spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. The text is largely left as it was written.

EDITING continues a step or two further to include changing sentence structure and word choice, reorganizing the text, and making whatever changes are necessary to improve the “flow” of the finished product.

REWRITING (that’s me…the REWRITER) takes it one step further–often rewriting and adding whole new sections between existing parts of the text. I love the challenge of taking what my clients have written and rewriting their words according to the tone of their writing and the intent of their message. It’s one of my favourite things to do!

For the next few months, we are offering a FIRST JOB FREE promotion to help YOU to find the words YOU need to say.  Here’s how it works. We offer the first hour of your first job free—just so that you can see first-hand what we can to for you. Why not EMAIL US and see for yourself what we can do for your business?

Get It Write Tip – Me or I?

Posted on: April 1st, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe No Comments

Me, or I?

Were you one of those poor kids who was told to always use “I” because that was the polite thing to do? It may sound classy, but be careful to use the pronoun “I” correctly.

“I” is correctly used as a subject, and never as an object. To most of us, a sentence like “Me and George went to the park” just doesn’t sound right, and it isn’t! If you’re ever in doubt, remove the other subject (George) and try again. “Me went to the park” sounds even worse!

When we change the case, it gets trickier still. “My sister and I went shopping” is correct. What if we change it a bit? “Our cousin took my sister and I out for lunch.” To many of us, this would sound correct, but it is NOT! If you are in doubt in this case, remove the other party again (my sister) and you get “Our cousin took I out for lunch.” That doesn’t sound right, does it?

Take care to avoid this error in your writing.

What is a double negative? What does it do?

Posted on: February 18th, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe 1 Comment

Question: What’s a double negative? What does it do?

Answer:  When you use two negatives in the same sentence, you end up saying the opposite of what you meant to say.

Here’s an example:

WRONG:   Barely no one noticed the error in the newsletter. (Meaning: Everyone noticed the error!)

RIGHT:   Barely anyone noticed the error in  the newsletter.  OR No one noticed the error in the newsletter.

Introducing…ME!

Posted on: February 16th, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe 1 Comment

Some of you are about to meet me, while others of you have come to know me a little bit better though our association over the past decade.

In addition to being an entrepreneur, I am also a married, working mom of four. I have worked with insurance and financial advisors for over 25 years and I have been in business since 2002 as the owner of TimeWise Support. I have a vast amount of knowledge and experience in this industry, but what I love most to do is to write.

Yep, that’s what happened to TimeWise. It’s still alive and well, but the time has come to follow my passion. So, rewriter.ca is born.

I recognize the importance of understanding your audience as well as the benefits of keeping in constant contact with both prospects and clients and I’m excited to provide the writing services that are necessary to help you to move forward with your business.