Mystery tends to swirl around ghostwriters and what they do, but it needn’t. I’m pleased to lift the veil . . . First, there isn’t one singular job description for a ghostwriter. Nor is there one uniform way a ghostwriter can help you. There are many possibilities, and the relationship can be explored and developed […]
On Emails and Emoticons
A while back, I received a grammar tip sheet and learned it’s now deemed proper to style the word e-mail sans hyphen. Not long after, I read that the venerable Oxford English Dictionary has added OMG, BFF, LOL, and more to its pages—who would have thought this of the OED? All of which, in a […]
How Do You Know When You’re Done?
With apologies to my mother (“Turkeys are done, young lady; people are finished”), I pose that question with sincerity, for the writer and editor in me has struggled with it for decades. When is a piece of writing or an editing job actually complete and ready to go out the door? When is “enough” really […]
Editing for Inclusion
When I started working as an editor, I came to despise the word “nauseous,” not because of what the word evokes but because I felt nauseated by its misuse. The word “nausea” is a derivative of the Greek word for ship, “naus.” With its “–ea” suffix, it was a name for seasickness, but now “nausea” extends to anything that makes one feel bilious. […]