The day after I’m arrested my father invites me to lunch.
This week I am in love with …
Alexia Derbas is a funny, dark writer. I love her voice and view. Here’s a taste.
This week I’m in love with…
Marjane Satrapi (author of Persepolis) and Tara Tiba (Iranian-Australian musician) Only seven years behind the rest of the word, I finally watched Persepolis this week…
This week I’m in love with…
David Foster Wallace reading his story ‘Forever Overhead’ Still on the serendipitous net-noodling loop, last week’s article by Zadie Smith lead me to seek out…
This week I am in love with…
‘The Winnie Blues’ by Sydney writer Rebecca Slater, takes you so far in so few words. Magic.
Can an editor read for pleasure?
I hear this question quite a bit. I have been asked it by students of a short course I teach and I’ve heard it…
This week I am in love with …
Phoebe Snow and Charles Dickens Phoebe Snow: the poetry woman, exquisite vocal stylist, deft guitarist. Having a mini Phoebe festival thanks to some new (second…
So what is a split infinitive anyway?
Spitting an infinitive is not a crime against grammar, but it’s not the most elegant construction either.
Dangling modifiers, squinting modifiers, what’s that about?
Understanding sentence modifiers can help with your writing, plus it can give you a bit of word-nerd cred when you casually name-drop them. A sentence…
The gentle art of dictionary adding
I’ve invented a new word: togsulation. [togs-yoo-lay-shon] It’s the lovely cool you get when you wear your wet togs* home from the beach or the…
A full stop is your friend
if you find your fingers hovering indecisively over the keyboard, if you’ve rewritten that sentence countless times and still can’t get it right, if you are stuck beyond stuckness
The brain is quicker than the eye – why typos slip through
I had been communicating with a new client for a few days before he politely pointed out that name was spelt Bret, not Brett.
Why am I telling you this? Surely as an editor I should be more observant, I hear you say. And surely I should be keeping this kind of oversight to myself. You’re probably right, but I couldn’t resist. It’s a perfect example of how the eye can see one thing and the brain can see another.