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Better English 101
Timely Communications Tips
November 24, 2008, Issue 24
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In This Issue
-- ANOTHER ATTORNEY GOES GIBBERISH
-- MORE ON THANKSGIVING
-- WE ALL NEED A GOOD EDITOR

Thanksgiving comes on Thursday. It's a good time to be grateful. After all, you didn't make any of the mistakes mentioned in this issue.

ANOTHER ATTORNEY GOES GIBBERISH
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 Well, as I've said before, the lawyers can't help it. One of my authors gave our publishing contract to his attorney to review.

The attorney's email to me began with, "This office is legal counsel to [XXX] with regard to the above captioned matter. Please accept this letter as continuation to the ongoing negotiations for the subject proposed publishing agreement."

Huh? I guess it was too human and simple to write something like, "I'm [XXX's] attorney and want to discuss his publishing contract with you."

Of course terms like "with regard to" and "above-captioned matter" and "ongoing negotiations" are all examples of how professionals think they must elevate themselves above their readers.

After all, tuition at Columbia Law School is $23,000 yearly for three years. At Harvard, it's $20,500. Who wants to write ordinary, simple, understandable prose after spending that kind of money?


MORE ON THANKSGIVING
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 You should curl up over the Thanksgiving weekend and read something that gives you an historical perspective on the holiday. We have an Internet special for Jim Tormey's novel, "John Rolfe of Virginia."

Rolfe saved the Virginia Colony from starving in 1608 by developing Virgina tobacco. He also ended the Powhatan war when he married Pocahontas.

One reason I don't support any National Football League team is because we have one in nearby Washington, DC, the nation's capital, called the Redskins.

Was Pocahontas's skin red? Have you seen a Native American's skin that was red? Would the NFL allow a team to be called the rednecks or the jigaboos or the wops?

Said linguist Benjamin Whorf, "Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about."


WE ALL NEED A GOOD EDITOR
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 My talented Canadian editorial colleague, Dan. L Wilson says it wisely: "Even a superb writer needs a good editor. A merely good writer needs a superb editor."

What happens when the publisher himself doesn't realize the importance of good editing? And don't you need a proofreader to check on the editing?

My good friend and writer Sidney Offit alerted me to Janet Maslin's review in the "NYTBR" of Nov. 17, 2008. He was more excited about this than the fact that we have sold the movie rights to "Soupbone."

She points out the gaps at the Overlook Press in P.F. Kluge's novel, "Gone Tomorrow."

Poor guy; his book, Maslin points out, has a sentence that has three quotation marks. A phrase, "sound's good" glares at you. Or blares at you.

Then there is a list of Kluge's other books, including "Final Evan." The problem, however, is that Kluge's book is actually spelled "Final Exam."

I don't claim that we at Beckham Publications produce perfectly edited books. But after a reviewer said that one of our detective novels would have been a better read if there had not been so many editorial mistakes, I have since then always hired a proofreader to clean up after the editor.

Don't rely on what so many authors have told me by telephone before sending in their manuscripts: "It won't need editing; my accountant's secretary read through it already and fixed everything."


www.newnovelist.comA powerful software writing tool

Sincerely,
Barry Beckham


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