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📚 Ready to publish? I banish typos so your story takes center stage.
Meaningful fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Pondering mercy & truth.
Eccl. 9:17

This is one of my most favorite poems/songs. If yo

This is one of my most favorite poems/songs. If you want to hear it sung to a lovely tune by Thomas Tallis, look up "Thou Wast, O God, and Thou Wast Blest" sung by Rodolfus Choir.

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘖 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵,
𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 w𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯,
𝘖𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥,
𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘯.
𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨,
𝘈𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘥𝘦;
𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘴𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨,
𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦.

𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘦
𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦;
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦
𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦.
𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘬'𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷'𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥,
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭;
𝘈𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥,
𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭.

𝘛𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘮, 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘦,
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦?
𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦,
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨.
𝘈𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢,
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩,
𝘚𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘦,
𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩.

~𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯

Yo, humans, do commas ever bother you? Do they eve

Yo, humans, do commas ever bother you? Do they ever try to stick their fingers in every pie and bug you to death when you're just trying to be a good writer? Or do they ever completely elude you and refuse to insert themselves where needed?

The comma is one of the most innocuous punctuation marks, in my opinion, but also one with some of the most different uses. (And therefore most subject to complications.)

Behold: Here is a free minicourse created by a cool friend and colleague, Claire Tucker (@clairetucker_editor). In it she tackles some of the comma's most common uses and how we're to wrangle it into proper, sensible usage. If that sounds helpful to you, go sign up at the link in her bio!

The lessons will be delivered directly into your email inbox (one every day for ten days). There are rules stated, explanations given, and practical examples to observe. (I think that last one was my favorite part of the course. Specific examples are invaluable for visualizing how things work, and theory with no practical application = useless.)

I think you'll find it a helpful resource in general. 🧐

QotD: Do you find commas innocuous? Or do they bug you to death (or near-death, since you're sitting here reading this and are not in fact currently dead)?

I had no plans of posting anything today, but this

I had no plans of posting anything today, but this prayer popped into my head and I wanted to share it. Courtesy of St. Patrick himself. This is only an excerpt of the prayer. The whole thing is much longer and pretty cool—you can just look up "St. Patrick's Prayer."

There are several different versions with varying wording and I'm never sure which one is right, so the excerpt on the graphics is just one common iteration. Here's another one I've seen, which flows more like poetry:

"Christ be with me, Christ within me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ to comfort me and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend or stranger."

Any of them are lovely, and remind me of what I come to learn more and more: how truly in Him does EVERYTHING consist. He is, and I am His, and He is mine, and I am nothing apart from Him.

Swipe for easier-to-read graphics. 😜 I like the imagery of the all-circular one, but it's rather hard on the eyeballs.

Swipe all the way to the end for a picture I took ages ago of the back of a violet wood sorrel leaf. It's not a shamrock, but reminds me of one. They're gems. (Esp. in real life. This picture does no justice.) You look at them from the top and they just look like a mini dark-green clover-ish plant, but if you crouch and turn a leaf over, you're met with the most vivid, deep, almost-shiny purple. It's one of my favorite things to do if I happen to be outside in the woods in spring. Find violet wood sorrel leaves and turn them over to see the purple transformation. It never gets old.

Once upon a time, Emma did not know how to live on

Once upon a time, Emma did not know how to live on social media.

This made for strange sporadic periods of consistency and absence, which are not very professional at all, but the problem is: Emma still does not know how to live on social media. So it's possible this problem will persist forever, which is sad because it feels mediocre and uncommitted, and Emma hates both those things.

Alas. She does not yet have a solution.

In the MEANTIME—hello, peoples. I exist. I went. I saw. I did not conquer the problem of how to be equally present in all areas of my life. Social media presence suffered. But I'm not trying to ignore you lovely souls, I promise. I want to do better at catching up on your posts.

I'll be back to posting soon-ish (but that's a relative term and depends on too many factors to guarantee 😂). I've been doing some cool behind-the-scenes stuff and getting lots of good ideas from a certain Catherine Thompson, who needs to get her IG account so I can tag her (get over here Cat). She does marketing consulting and other such cool things and she knows what she's talking about.

So this might become an improved space as I begin implementing what I'm learning! Expect experimentation.

In the meantime, thanks for all of you who stick around even when I'm not posting, for DM conversations, and for being a gracious community at large. I appreciate you.

Question for research purposes: Is it blazingly unprofessional for a business social media account to not be posting consistently? Or does the frequency of posting not matter as long as the content is quality?

P.S. If any of you have publishing plans for 2023 and don't have a proofreader lined up yet, shoot me a DM and let us converse! I'd love to talk about working with you, and I've discovered that scheduling things far in advance is better for sanity all around. 😏

Hallo, humans! I have some cool stuff going on be

Hallo, humans!

I have some cool stuff going on behind the scenes for business things. I also recently started a lovely large book proofread. In light of such facts, I'm going to take the rest of December (possibly more) off from posting in order to focus properly on those.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I know my limits, and sometimes I just have to pause stuff in order to do any of the rest with excellence. 😂

I won't be totally gone from IG at large, though, so feel free to keep messaging and whatever else.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear any ideas for feed improvement. What kind of content do you want to see here? When you think "proofreader account," do you automatically think "boring grammar tips," or is less proofreading-specific stuff allowed too?

(That's honestly only a small part of me. Y'all have no idea. ;D But this is, after all, a business account, and I want to keep it focused on what matters to those following along.)

What should I post about?

Has it ever been a question for you which of these

Has it ever been a question for you which of these worthy contestants you should use?

I find this particular issue crop up a lot in my proofreading, and with good reason: it's easy to use these words interchangeably.

🔎 The happy thing is that they're all valid forms of the words, whether with or without the "s" on the end. The unhappy thing is that using both forms interchangeably in the same text is inconsistent, and inconsistency is gross.

✅ Solution: pick which form of these words you prefer—all either with "s" or without—and stick with it throughout your writing!

How to choose?

✅ "Toward" (and corresponding words without the "s") is the preferred version in American English.

✅ "Towards," etc., is preferred in British English.

If you write in American English, it makes sense to choose those standard word spellings. (And it's what The Chicago Manual of Style recommends, for that reason. It's a good idea to stick with the standards for American book-publishing if your main reader base will be American.)

But the big deal is to be consistent, whatever you choose. Go thou forth and do that!

Let's hear it, folks: toward or towards? With or without an "s" for you?

Do you hop up and get back on the rails when you f

Do you hop up and get back on the rails when you fall off the tracks?

Fun fact: I thought of this caption while lying in bed early one morning having unintentionally slept fifteen minutes or so past my alarm. What was my impulse? "Well, I'm already late; may as well just throw in the towel and sleep a little longer."

Do you throw in the towel when you fail a little bit, thus making your failure complete?

How 'bout no. I speak from deep knowledge on the subject: it isn't helpful. 😂

Perseverance is better than strength. You don't have to possess great strength or wisdom to do what you should do; you just have to do it.

If you fall off the tracks, don't lie there in resigned defeat. Hop up before you let yourself consider it. (HA, I know. Way easier said than done.) Wallowing and allowing further failure is much easier, disgustingly so. Don't do it. Don't let that even be an option in your tool belt.

"Austere perseverance, harsh and continuous," wins the day. Self-discipline, not feelings.

(And, if you follow and abide in Christ, the strength you need comes from Him, which is a whole 'nother—even more important—thing. But we're still responsible to obey.)

So! Didja sleep past your alarm? Get up anyway.

Get started writing later than you wanted? Would it be easier to just surf the web now? Nah . . . don't do that. Write anyway.

Did you start the day in an inexplicably bad mood? Would it be easier to stay in the slough of irritation/despair/any other lovely sloughs that offer themselves for our abode?

Yeah. It would. But easier isn't usually better. Let's get back on the track, peeps.

How do you make yourself get up in the morn if you sleep past your alarm?

Why so many options? (Because English likes to be

Why so many options?

(Because English likes to be confusing, that’s why.)

Thankfully the answer to this isn’t all that difficult.

✅ Both “till” and “’til” are acceptable forms of the word. “Till” more so, but more on that in a minute.

🔎 Contrary to popular belief, “till” isn’t a mutant abbreviation of “until”; it’s actually been around longer and is a word in its own right, though it means basically the same thing. It doesn’t need an apostrophe since it’s a whole word by itself.

But, because “’til” is in fact a shortening of “until,” it needs an apostrophe.

🧐 “’Til” is less standardly accepted than “till,” and shunned in formal writing. But it can absolutely be used in fiction (especially dialogue) if you want to go for that certain effect “till” doesn’t give you.

The important thing is to pick one version and use it throughout whatever you write. Don’t ping-pong back and forth between them. Consistency is cool.

What do you use? Do you have a preference between the two?

Oh, and I forgot to mention here, but “’till” = nope. You should always have either two “l”s and no apostrophe or an apostrophe and one “l.”

This dude shall speak for itself.

𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒃 𝒖𝒔, 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏
𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔,
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆
𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆,
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒚
𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒆.

𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒃 𝒖𝒔, 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏
𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔
𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕
𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆;
𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆,
𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉,
𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏
𝑶𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒎.

𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒃 𝒖𝒔, 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒍𝒚,
𝑻𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚;
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅,
𝑾𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔.

𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔;
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆
𝑰𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉, 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆, 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑪𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏,
𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕.

~𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘪𝘳 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘬𝘦 (𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴)

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