… and how to put them right! Advice and opportunities for new, aspiring and upcoming journalists and writers of non-fiction
Three for the ‘price’ of one, this week – but each one a tiddler. Whistles can be wetted, but appetites are only whetted. Your ‘whistle’ is your throat or voice. You ‘wet’ it to lubricate it – by taking a drink. It’s easy to see how ‘wetting’ an appetite might be assumed correct, misconstrued to …
I was in a grumpy mood to start with. Just the day before I’d been here to buy myself a comfy pair of slippers – just £7 from Primark, if you care for the detail – only to find that things didn’t feel quite right when I got home and started to wear them. My …
Because if you indulge in it, and one of the results takes you to the writing blog of a tutor who favours reading his Google Analytics stats ahead of addressing his looming deadlines, you run the risk of your search term being appropriated, occasionally for lightly comic purposes, and presented to readers in Writing-related Googling …
As regular followers will know, I’m all for branching out of your writing comfort zone and researching subjects you know little or nothing about. I probably best make this point in an early post – Mistake No. 12. Years and years ago – late nineties, I think – I wrote an article about electronic voice …
Obviously, as a tutor, part of my job is to correct spelling – and that’s okay. At first, I may point out that a student needs to work on his or her spelling, and if things don’t improve, I may issue a little reminder. There’s really not that much to say about it, I don’t …
I’m a reasonable man. Pay taxes. Smile at checkout lady. Drop coins in charity boxes. Hold door open for elderly people. Buy my rounds. Check, check, check, check, and check. So why, when I’m presented with the following, do I get the fleeting urge to jab out my eyeballs and stir fry them over a …
Not addressing an editorial contact by name when you write to them with an idea, proposal or article — an easily avoidable mistake. Each of these sets my teeth on edge: Dear Sir/Madam\ Dear Ms/Miss/Mrs/Mr Jones To Whom it May Concern… Each suggests lack of care, lack of research, lack of … unlaziness. Imagine receiving …
I doubt there are many editors who would reject work featuring one or more of the following minor bloopers. But I see them a lot. Curiously, I also see inconsistency in close proximity – “every day I get up and everyday I have breakfast” – which always makes me wonder whether the writers must have …
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