Proofreading Tips for Everyone, not just novel writers...

​There's no foolproof formula for perfect proofreading every time. As Mark Twain realized, it's just too tempting to see what we meant to write rather than the words that actually appear on the page or screen.
The following tips should help you see your errors before anybody else does.

• Look for one type of problem at a time
  Read through your text several times, concentrating first on sentence structures, then word choice, then spelling, and finally punctuation. As the saying goes, if you look for trouble, you're bound to find it.

• Double-check facts, figures, and proper names
  In addition to reviewing for correct spelling and usage, make sure that all the information in your text is accurate.

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• Give it a rest
  If time allows, set your text aside for a few hours (or days) after you've finished composing, and then proofread it with fresh eyes. Rather than remember the perfect paper you meant to write, you're more likely to see what you've actually written. This obviously doesn’t apply to urgent emails or proposals, rather have someone else to proofread.

• Use a spellchecker
  The spellchecker can help you catch repeated words, reversed letters, and many other common slip-ups - but it's certainly not goof-proof as the following example shows:

Author E.S. Gaffney once confessed that when she worked for the U.S. Department of Energy, she had to submit a proposal to a man with the last name of Prono. Without her authorization, her computer corrected that name to… well, you guessed it!
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Trust your dictionary
Your spellchecker can tell you only if a word is a word, not if it's the right word. For instance, if you're not sure whether sand is in a desert or a dessert, visit the dictionary. 

Ask for help
Invite someone else to proofread your text after you have reviewed it.
​A new set of eyes may immediately spot errors that you've overlooked.
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Here are two things I could help you with:

1. Proofread all your business documents before they go out “into the world”
2. Explore solutions or possible solutions for issues in your business processes

​Contact me now! ​