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There’s your motivational reminder from Tolkien

There’s your motivational reminder from Tolkien for the week. (At least, it’s attributed to Tolkien.)

One step at a time gets us there faster than dwelling on the whole and despairing because it looks impossible. A simple concept; why so hard to consistently live out, I’ll never know. 😂

But take that next step. If you do it consistently enough, you might be awed when you look back and see how much of the path you’ve traveled. (Don’t look back right now, though. Just take the next step.)

In other news, exciting news, I’m finally in the wrap-up stage of a long book proofread for a client, and it was definitely little by little that I traveled far!

I don’t think I’d even started it when I drafted this post a couple months back, but hey, around when I planned to post this post coincides with my near-finishing of this project the other day, so why not tie ’em together. I traveled word by word, comma by comma, hyphen by hyphen, and all the things throughout that book. It was a blast, and monstrously satisfying to be so close to completion.

What’s something you’ve made progress on recently by taking a step at a time? Big or small, cool or not—I want to hear it. Even if it’s just cleaning your stove. 🧐

“Give me twenty-six soldiers of lead and I will

“Give me twenty-six soldiers of lead and I will conquer the world.”

This quote has been attributed to a few different people, including Johannes Gutenberg and Benjamin Franklin. I don’t know who actually said it, but it’s nonetheless a pithy testament to the power of letters and words to change the world.

What aspects of the world do you aim to influence with your writing? Are they little things, touching on the ins and outs of everyday relationships and life struggles? Are they things of a vast scope, aiming to turn some particular way people think on its head? Or something in between?

They’re all important, whether mainstream or obscure, big or small, light or dark. And fascinating. I’d love to hear if there’s a particular thematic focus you tackle in your writing!

Excuse me for a second while I flail over what a b

Excuse me for a second while I flail over what a beautiful word this is. *does so*

It's gorgeous, and the concept even better. Take it straight from Tolkien here, on slides two and three; he explains it best. (I wanted to quote like, three whole pages from this essay. You’ll just have to go read it; I had to stop myself somewhere. Tolkien’s “On Fairy Stories.”)

(https://coolcalvary.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/on-fairy-stories1.pdf)

The moment of eucatastrophe in a well-done story is always incredible. But the real life eucatastrophe of the entire gospel, I find unfathomable.

I’m glad we were given a eucatastrophe in our world, not just a plain ol’ catastrophe. Jesus Christ knows how to do that “sudden joyous ‘turn’” from the depths of the most dark and broken situation that is humanity.

Do you prefer eucatastrophe or catastrophe in stories you read and watch? (Okay, dumb question, but there’s something to be said for both. Obviously there isn’t always a happy ending in individual life situations, so to have that always happen in stories would be lame and unrealistic. But there has to be at least some beauty to temper the misery.)

If you’re a writer, do you prefer writing happy endings or tragic endings?

The lovely @editoramberlambda tagged me a bit back

The lovely @editoramberlambda tagged me a bit back for the 5 Facts, 10 Friends challenge, so here goes!

My name's Emma and I'm a proofreader, bibliophile, and details freak, among other things. Here are five random facts about me, and ten tags in the comments for others to do the same. (If you weren't tagged but want to do this, consider yourself tagged!)

1. The few poems I've written in my life were Certified Cringeworthy, but I adore poetry done well.

2. I'm clichély-but-truly a proponent of the Oxford/serial comma. (Thus, "red, white, and blue" instead of "red, white and blue." Gotta have that second comma.)

3. I use the word "ain't" fairly often, so I must not be a total snob. I'm a stickler for accuracy and consistency, but I also believe language is made for people, not the other way 'round, and that some of the ways people actually use language should count as valid even if they weren't once upon a time. (Some of them. Not all. 😅) (And this does not mean I think "ain't" suitable for all discourse. But on occasion, it just hits the spot.)

4. I can't come up with original ideas to save my life, but I love analyzing other people's ideas.

5. I'm exceedingly grateful for the existence of you people who ARE cut out to be creatives and writers and poets. Keep doing the stuff. I'm so happy to just proofread. 😂

In other news, I recently finished some design tweaking on my website! It's new-ish and improved, and you can check it out at the link in my bio or here.

https://precisionproofreads.com/

What's the most random fact about yourself that comes to mind? I want to hear it!

Shoutout today to my older sister Kate, who’s pa

Shoutout today to my older sister Kate, who’s partly responsible for my being in the writing community to begin with. She’s written for a long time, and I’m her fan numero uno. (As well as consummate nitpicker, which is how I began gearing up for proofreading professionally. But, I spend more time and energy yelling about her characters than nitpicking, so that’s fun.)

Some things I like about Kate include:

- She writes cool stuff.
- She writes cool stuff.
- She writes cool st—eh yeah, that’s probably boring by now.
- She wrote a character I adore even though people aren’t meant to adore him.
- She wrote a character I adore even though people ARE meant to adore him.
- The characters, basically. And the parallels. (Her foil characters = 👌) And relationships. Gah. She’s a good writer.

But also, she listens, and challenges me to live outside my comfort zone, and be more open-minded & try new things. (Scary, scary things, like wearing pink, and yellow. Way harder than proofreading.) And I like her.

It’s her birthday today, y’all. Happy birthday, Kate! (And behold, two different accounts on here and yet neither of them are writing accounts. She’s great with art and aesthetics, too. Here she is: @kateflournoy, @katethecolorstylist)

P.S. She also got married to Daeus Lamb, which is neat.

#writersofinstagram #writers #readers #bibliophiles #embersgram #proofreading #proofreadingservices #indiewriters #daeuslamb #kateflournoyiskatelamb

This has been one of my favorite hymns for a while

This has been one of my favorite hymns for a while just because, but I find it a relevant prayer for myself in proofreading life as well as spiritual. If I don’t continually ask Him to be my vision and keep me on track, both in my physical sight searching out typos and my spiritual sight trying to go the right way, I’m in trouble. His vision is way better than mine. I don’t get why I ever try to take over.

How do you remind yourself to keep His vision yours?

#Vision #BeThouMyVision #Proofreader #Proofreading #ProofreadingServices #Writers #Readers #WritersOfInstagram #EmbersGram #IndieWriters #ChristianWriters

Hopefully it's not a huge PR mistake for a person

Hopefully it's not a huge PR mistake for a person with a business to ask advice of her followers, 'cause if it is, too bad. (Authenticity is also essential, so.)

This is a post to ask you humans a question: How?

How do y'all manage social media? 😂

I've known since before I entered any social media that I wasn't made for social media and social media wasn't made for me, but alas. For business reasons, it is now necessary. I like it better than I thought I would, but keeping up is a slippery task. How do you manage creating and posting quality content, *and* keeping up with other accounts, while still living normal life and being present for the people in your own house?

I don't call the internet sphere "not real life" because that's inaccurate; of course it's real life. All of you behind the screen are just as real and relevant as the people I see every day. But my question is, how do we do this—when y'all have real writing to do, and I have real proofreading to do, and we all have real people in our present, tangible spheres of existence to invest in, before the myriad of things and relationships we do and have through our screens?

(And long sentences to write. We have those too.)

It's like that saying "The cobbler's children have no shoes." That's an awful principle, and I shrivel inside at the thought of being the kind of person who's so busy meeting the needs of people outside their family that they ignore meeting the needs of the ministry right under their noses. (Mrs. Jellyby from Bleak House, anyone...) It's hypocritical, which is gross, and not Christlike, which is also hypocritical and even worse.

I'm open to any tips and thoughts you might have! On how you schedule, come up with posts, keep up with those you follow, stay sane; how you don't spend every waking hour doing all those (or every sleeping hour 🤨🤨); what works best for engagement, what you appreciate in other people's feeds, and the like.

Generally on managing the online aspect of your life without letting it take over the rest of your life.

My soul hath want of elbow room.

(And I'll be much geeked out if any of you know that reference. It's slightly off, but still recognizable.)

Yo, people! This brought to you today courtesy of @scripturecalligraphy.co , who graciously pointed out a typo in my previous post. 😏

It's true. I live in fear of making a public typo. Even normally that horrifies me, but doubly so when I'm posting as a proofreader.

But the truth is, *everyone* needs a proofreader, even proofeaders.

Proofreading is as much about being a fresh pair of eyes as it is about being good with details and spelling and punctuation. When we write—especiallly if we go over our writing ad nauseam afterwards, smoothing, checking, editing—our eyes get used to the writing.

Even if we're great at avoiding errors, when our eyes are accustomed to our own writing, errors don't register like they would for a new pair of eyeballs. Nothin' like perspective for finding problems.

So there we go! Why Everyone Needs a Proofreader, 101. (Three cheers for @scripturecalligraphy.co for giving me an opportunity to elaborate! Thank you Kina. 😂)

I'm happy to be that new pair of eyeballs on your writing whenever you should need it. 👀

(P.S. Kudos to whoever can spot three typo's in this post.)

#typos #errors #eyeballs #proofreading #proofreadingservices #writing #writersofinstagram #embersgram #shameandhorror

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