This Book Belongs To

I’ve been in love with words since age five, when I realized that a connection existed between the words my mother was “reading” to me and the symbols on the page. It was a milestone, as definitive for me as the turning from the old century to the new. Whole worlds opened for me; and one of the happiest days of my life was when I got my first library card.

With this newfound skill, and with access to newspapers and books, I realized that I was no longer limited to what my parents had, and my teachers would, teach me as I passed through their care. Now I’m full grown and in charge of my own words, and I think of myself as a wordsmith. I have, through my working life, developed and honed my skills. I made my living helping others make their points with the aid of my discreet editing, murmured suggestions and well-stocked vocabulary. I also learned to navigate among the more colorful print disasters which threatened regularly.

To me, one of the best things about words is that they can be combined in an infinite variety of ways. What magic to be able to take words and weave them together, evoking feelings and exciting passions in others. Words have so many textures; there are moments I’d swear I could almost taste a word, hear its music, see its colors, inhale its fragrance and embrace its meaning.

Over and over I read each word I write, testing to see if the flavor is right or if there’s one that better conveys my meaning. Do my tenses agree? Are my infinitives split? (Why is there so much cat hair in my keyboard?) Will my words touch someone deep inside? I imagine a reader, perhaps you, seeing my words and saying, “Yes, I know just what she means.” To be human is often to be lonely and isolated. How rare and beautiful, if only briefly, to cross the void that divides us and connect with a kindred spirit.

So that is my back story, some of which has been cribbed from an earlier story, and here we are. If you are interested and I am able, I’d like to be a resource for those thorny “lie”/”lay” issues. Don’t know the difference between “discreet” and “discrete”? Fuzzy on your parts of speech? Let me help you ease the ‘agony of the feat’ of finding just the right word. I enjoy bringing order, helping to make a writer’s piece perfect, making that first and lasting impression a positive one. Let me be “The Final Word In Editing” for you.