The Intersection of Your Vision Blvd. and Writer’s Block Rd.

We’ve all been there. One minute you’re smoothly cruising down Your Vision Blvd. in your 1966 Ford Mustang convertible—sunshine, blue skies, 70-degree wind blowing through your hair. All of your ideas are beautifully coordinated into coherent and meaningful sentences. Writer heaven.

Then, out of nowhere, gridlock. You’ve stopped moving. It’s bumper-to-bumper traffic and you find yourself perfectly perpendicular to Writer’s Block Rd. as the “Do Not Block the Intersection” street sign intensely glares at you. You impatiently tap your finger on the steering wheel as you hope that the light doesn’t turn red, leaving you caught in the middle of the intersection. And if the light does turn red, maybe you’ll get away with this little blunder and there won’t be traffic on the road that you are currently blocking?

Since I may have gotten a little carried away with my allegory, let me sum up and translate my point before I truly lose you.

No matter what genre of writing you do, there are going to be parts of your first draft that are weaker than others. You don’t have a perfectly consistent brain that pumps out an even stream of brilliance. You work at different times, under different circumstances, and while some of your writing may be exactly what you envisioned, there are going to be muddled parts of your text where you struggle to accurately convey your ideas. And are others going to notice? Yes.

Rather than have this thought send you into a frenzy of panic, don’t fret. Writers are often their worst critics and nothing can discourage you more than your own disappointment in yourself. So, first thing’s first: If you notice a lull in your creativity, don’t put pressure on yourself to immediately get back on track. Everything isn’t always perfect on the first try.

It’s counterproductive to be down on yourself, or your writing, if you happen to hit a bump in the road. You’re not meant to drive on Your Vision Blvd. indefinitely.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his essay “Self-Reliance,” “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Become comfortable with less productive phases of your writing journey. They’ll lead you back to stronger and more relevant ideas. You can learn from the parts of your text that you struggle with.

While the writing process doesn’t need to be consistent, you don’t want inconsistencies or other flaws to remain in your text, either.

So, how do you proceed when you’re in a Writer’s Block Rd. gridlock? The band Journey sings the song “Don’t Stop Believin,’” I say, “Don’t stop writing.” Be patient. After you’ve accepted that you’ve slowed your writing pace and you may need to revisit certain areas of your writing at a later time, make specific notes about “blocked” sections. What were you doing/thinking before your ideas started dwindling? These notes can be about your writing topic or what life circumstances were also affecting you at the time, and they don’t have to make sense; they’re just for you. Simple notes are important not only to keep you physically writing and thinking, but can also be useful when you are inspired again.

I offer three levels of proofreading services because every different piece of writing potentially needs a different type of polishing. My Level III proofreading service caters to writing that needs to be transported from the intersection of Your Vision Blvd. and Writer’s Block Rd. back to the Your Vision Highway. In addition to correcting spelling and grammar errors, I underscore, make suggestions about how to improve, and/or correct incomplete or vague sections of your text.

I love working with writers because it’s my passion to expand on and manipulate others’ ideas—making them clear and brilliant, the way the writer intended. You may have trouble explicitly expressing a concept, but a fresh set of eyes can complete your thoughts. Other times, writers may not realize that their ideas weren’t expressed in the way that they intended. An impartial reader, not the original writer, helps identify these confusing sections of text.

It’s like I always say, a writer and a proofreader go together like peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes you just need to add some peanut butter to your strawberry traffic jam.

About the Author: Stefanie Flaxman corrects business, marketing, and educational documents in 24 hours to eliminate reputation-crushing mistakes from your writing. She's a professional proofreader and the founder of Revision Fairy® Small Business Proofreading Services. Connect with Stefanie on Twitter.

Beyond Proofreading and Writing Help: Life Edits for 2010

It may seem like I’m obsessed with proofreading, but I see opportunities to edit everywhere. Any choice that you make can potentially edit a bad habit—revising and improving it.

We can edit what we say or think. Stress and anxiety always seem to be at the top of the list of things we need to edit out of our lives. What about priorities? What priorities do you need to reevaluate?

Let’s not forget selective memories: editing out what we don’t want to think about. For some, what we “don’t want to think about” may be making those sometimes difficult changes that are necessary to better our lifestyles. However, every 365 days, at the turn of the New Year, people tend to get enthusiastic about starting a new chapter.

Here are three simple life edits to put you on the right track for twenty ten (and, if nothing else, make you jazzed about the fact that you now have the option of succinctly writing out the year in words).

Multi-tasking
Living in the hectic, busy, fast-paced 21st century world is getting a bit old. When the masses can respond to three emails at once on their iPhones, while inhaling a double latte on a conference call via headset and participating in a Skype chat, the skill of multi-tasking loses its luster. Big whoop, you can do more than one thing at once.

You are less likely to make mistakes when you focus on one event at a time. Take the most important activity that you do and give it your undivided attention. If you’re writing, facilitate the process by turning off your phone and text message alerts. If you’re proofreading a document, close out your email client or TweetDeck. You can catch up on your Twitter timeline when you’re doing something less important.

Timing
The theory of relativity couldn’t be more pervasive. When we’re doing something that we enjoy, time goes by quickly. When we’re struggling to get through an unpleasant task, time crawls. For me, my appetite is never as strong as when I have to do something less than appealing. “I’ll just have a quick snack for 10 more minutes,” I tell myself.

Although this is an avoidance technique, something can be learned from the idea that we tend to monitor time more when we want it to go by quickly. Don’t get so caught up in your work that you forget to take breaks to eat or remind your circulation that blood should flow to your legs as well. It’s great that you are passionate about what you are doing, but to keep your stamina for the long haul, it’s important to take breaks. Remind yourself that you’re a person outside of your work. Set alarms so that you don’t have to monitor the clock and then take a few minutes to do something for yourself—whether it’s taking a walk, stretching, or catching up on your favorite blog. Work is something that you do, but ultimately, you are in control of your days.

Trust
Trusting in your own nature and abilities is the key to overcoming anxiety. The simple idea of trust will make you more productive. Worrying about a task or fearing a meeting or encounter won’t change how the actual event plays out.

Trust that you know how to handle a situation. Trust that you know the best decision for you. Learn to let go of over-thinking and second-guessing. It’s okay if things don’t go exactly as planned on the first try. There’s always another chance to rise to the challenge.

Life is about editing. If your life began as a polished, final draft and you knew all the answers right away, it wouldn’t be a journey.

About the Author: Stefanie Flaxman corrects business, marketing, and educational documents in 24 hours to eliminate reputation-crushing mistakes from your writing. She's a professional proofreader and the founder of Revision Fairy® Small Business Proofreading Services. Connect with Stefanie on Twitter.

Question From a Proofreader: Boxers or Briefs?

As a proofreader, I enjoy reading all types of writing—from a paragraph on the back of a cereal box to a 300-page novel.

Effective writing, regardless of the length, utilizes the concept of brevity. A well-written 300-page novel may actually be brief. The author just needs 300 pages to tell the story accurately. The excessive version might have been 500 pages. Brevity isn’t confined to word count or page length. It’s a writing skill that determines what information is crucial and what unnecessary details should be omitted. A lengthy piece of writing does not necessarily mean that it is better or more profound.

Here are some writing tips that will help you understand and utilize the concept of brevity.

Beauty and the brief.
The question that I pose in the headline of this article relates to men’s underwear as a way to illustrate my view of brevity. Form fitting, supportive briefs are analogous to strong writing. Be specific and use bold descriptions. Boxers are loose, vague, and representative of weak writing. This confusing style lacks a clear picture of what needs to be revealed. Main points are difficult to decipher because the text is cluttered with extra material. You can inform and engage your reader while maintaining brevity.

Don’t make your readers guess.
The key to clear, concise writing is to state your main point in the beginning of your text. Be explicit. Often times writers like to “tip toe” around what they’re trying to say, leave the reader hanging, and only get around to what they’re really trying to communicate at the end of the document. This is a “save the best for last” mentality. Other writers have no intention of making a definitive point. They want the reader to infer their message. Neither of these techniques produces persuasive writing. A proofreader will help ensure that your writing explains and strengthens a precise topic. The process of proofreading enables you to get a sense of whether someone else understands what you intended to express.

Keep it fresh and interesting.
There’s a reason why resumes should be only one page. Intrigue. Take a tip from resume writing and practice using short, but informative, descriptions. Your goal is to hold the reader’s interest so that she will follow up in the way that you desire. With a resume, the brief points about your work history should prompt a potential employer to schedule an interview with you. (Save specific details for talking points during the interview.) If you’re writing a blog, inspire a reader to subscribe or sign up for your newsletter.

Masters of brevity strike a balance between satisfying their audience, so that they’re not teasing their readers, and leaving out anything that dilutes their agenda.

Still not sure what to keep and what to toss? I’m happy to help if you need a proofreader to polish and perfect your text for you.

About the Author: Stefanie Flaxman corrects business, marketing, and educational documents in 24 hours to eliminate reputation-crushing mistakes from your writing. She's a professional proofreader and the founder of Revision Fairy® Small Business Proofreading Services. Connect with Stefanie on Twitter.

Grammar and Proofreading Challenge

Have you ever received a text message with a sentence that reads something like, “I cant wait to here youre great news!” and suddenly your good news isn’t so exciting any more? The proofreading bug hits you. You’d rather focus your attention on the multiple punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes in your friend’s text. They’re so annoying!

In this article, starting with the second paragraph, I’ve inserted a total of 10 word choice or punctuation mistakes. Now that you’ve mastered proofreading text messages, try your hand at catching the errors in this text.

Lets get back to that great news of yours. Do you take time each day to recognize good news? Treat yourself to this type of positive mental boost. There’s a lot of negativity in the world and people like to spread negativity. This is your way of fighting back. You’ll open yourself up to more positive experiences if you focus on the appealing aspects of your daily existence. It’s amazing what great ideas and inspiration come to you if your simply open to it.

Write down at least one good thing or one item that you’re thankful for each day. The glass-half-empty-skeptic often immediately objects to this exercise. “It’s tedious. I don’t have time for that, and it’s not going to change anything” becomes his argument. I call it an excuse. If one assumes that nothing is going to change, he is making as much of a prediction about the future as the starry-eyed dreamer who assumes that something will change. Let’s be appreciative, not psychics.

Keeping a “good things” list prevents negativity from shaking your confidence. It’s a tangible reminder that no matter how terrible a “bad day” may be, there are enjoyable parts of your life. At the end of the weak you’ll be able to reflect on happy events. It’s difficult to say that you had a “bad week” if you have actually written down words that contradict this thought.

Writing down positive ideas also helps alleviate writers block in the future. Go back to any mundane though that you’ve written down if you’re feeling stuck. These random scribbles can lead to interesting topics to explore. If I’m feeling inarticulate, I like to write down the lyrics to on of my favorite songs or a song that I happen to be listening to at that moment. Work that I admire inspires me. Feed off of other’s creativity; don’t get discouraged by negativity.

Start small and realize that life is what you make of it. Your attitude plays more of part of what you life is like than actual circumstances, puzzling as they may be.

For some, proofreading is like solving a puzzle. I’m happy to provide puzzles for those with an eye for detail. So, take a deep breathe and count to 10 the next time you are upset about your friends grammar mistake. Perhaps your ability to use proper grammar and syntax will go on your “good things” list.

About the Author: Stefanie Flaxman corrects business, marketing, and educational documents in 24 hours to eliminate reputation-crushing mistakes from your writing. She's a professional proofreader and the founder of Revision Fairy® Small Business Proofreading Services. Connect with Stefanie on Twitter.

Don’t You Just Hate Words?

I hate words.

Nothing complicates your ideas more than words. However, most writers love words. Go figure.

I don’t necessarily mean that an article’s word count is problematic. How many words it takes you to express and support your points is circumstantial. Just don’t get carried away with words that hinder, rather than enhance, your thoughts.

For example, the passive voice is often considered taboo. But I just used it anyway. In the exemplary first sentence of this paragraph “is often considered taboo” is the passive voice.

In this case I used the word “considered” to emphasize that it’s not the way something “is” but how it “is thought of/considered.” Here, the passive voice helped me explain what I wanted to say in more detail. I did not want to claim that the passive voice “is” actually taboo. I wanted to express that it is commonly considered taboo.

While there are instances where the passive voice is appropriate, the following is a case where the passive voice is unnecessary—adding excessive words to your text:

Above, I just wrote, “I used the word ‘considered.’”

The passive voice-version of this phrase states, “I was using the word ‘considered.’”

There’s no difference in meaning in these two sentences—neither makes my point more clear—but the later has one extra word.

Here is another example from my own writing that illustrates the insertion of useless words:

I wrote, “I wanted to express that it is commonly considered taboo.”

The first draft of this sentence may have read, “I wanted to express that it is commonly considered to be taboo.”

Two extra words. No additional description.

Unwarranted words throughout your text complicate your sentence structure without adding any value to your writing.

Do you know what I hate more than words, “wordy” grammar phrases like “passive voice”? (Since phrases are compound words, I guess this gripe relates to my first complaint.)

The advice “avoid the passive voice” is a little vague, so let me break it down for you.

The passive voice consists of multiple verbs.

Combining verbs to form the passive voice describe the process of an action. The past tense of a verb describes an action that happened. The present tense of a verb describes the action as it happens.

When proofreading your text, your verb tense should be consistent.

1. Examine your content to see if you switch to the passive voice.

2. If so, decide if you need to emphasize the action or the process of the action.

3. If you use the passive voice in a sentence where describing the process of an action is no more descriptive than the action itself, get rid of the superfluous verb.

4. The passive voice may be changed to past or present tense.

Here are two more examples of a redundant passive voice.

Passive Voice (Present Tense): Jerry walks into the concert hall where Sally is singing.

Present Tense: Jerry walks into the concert hall where Sally sings.

Passive Voice (Past Tense): Jerry walked behind the stage at the concert hall where Sally was taking a break from singing.

Past Tense: Jerry walked behind the stage at the concert hall where Sally took a break from singing.

I shouldn’t have such negative feelings towards words. Sometimes they just need to be put in their place.

About the Author: Stefanie Flaxman corrects business, marketing, and educational documents in 24 hours to eliminate reputation-crushing mistakes from your writing. She's a professional proofreader and the founder of Revision Fairy® Small Business Proofreading Services. Connect with Stefanie on Twitter.