Making the Write Right     

   You might like to know, it can take as much time to proofread our blogs as it does to write them, not counting pre-writing study time. 

   It's easy putting words into sentences. It's another thing to make sentences readable, clear and concise. 

   Ernest Hemingway said he rewrote the pages of his novels 13 times before they went to the printer. No wonder he quit at noon and went fishing. And that was in the day of typewriters, when one change required retyping the entire page. 

   I lived in that world during my early career, but two or three drafts was enough work for me.

   With Views By the Sea, I mostly avoid sentences longer than 30 words. It's easy to find words or phrases that can be deleted without spoiling the story. Writers must be sure the active/passive tense is right, and typos and misspellings are unforgivable.

   Today's computer programs let us know when a word isn't recognized, so that helps. The other day I wrote major when I wanted mayor. I had to catch that one myself.

   Poor punctuation, unnecessary words, untended double meanings - these are some of the items. If we refer to a girls' sports team, it had better be high school, or else the women in college and beyond may cry foul.

   Capitalization is an issue - is God He or he? - as is knowing when to use a figure rather than spelling - 2 or two? 

   My gripe with newspaper reporters is their habit of using a long quote before they reveal who said it. When I know the speaker, I have to reread the quote, because it can matter. 

   Well, I've looked this over 13 times, so let's go fishing. 

       Jimmy