By Linda Wegner
Over the past several decades I鈥檝e had the privilege of having these inspirational articles published in a number of weekly newspapers. As well, a number of magazines (I honestly don鈥檛 remember how many) have assigned and paid for articles they鈥檝e published. When I found it necessary to further supplement our family income, a friend providentially offered to train me to work with him for a company specializing in the research and writing of market investment reports. There鈥檚 no need to further elaborate but I consider myself richly blessed to have had these opportunities. But, like any worthwhile activity, there鈥檚 a lot goes on in the background; here鈥檚 a microscopic peek at that.
Because I鈥檓 well aware that I make plenty of 鈥済oofs鈥� in my writing, I keep myself open to constructive criticism, from myself and from others. Take these weekly offerings, for example: I have self-imposed guidelines, including a strict word count; next, I go over and over the text at least a dozen times, checking that the piece makes sense and that I don鈥檛 become repetitive in the use of certain words; next, I look for spelling and grammatical errors; and, finally, I read it aloud to ensure that it 鈥渇lows鈥�, making both reading and understanding the meaning simple. In a final effort to hit the Send button with confidence, I read the piece out loud to my husband. Though English is not his first language, he is great at picking out any of the above errors and of rendering his judgement on the tone of the piece. I seriously consider any criticism he offers.
In all things before God and people, let鈥檚 do it well.
鈥淔oolishness is joy to him who is without heart and lacks [intelligent, common] sense, but a man of understanding walks uprightly [making his course straight].鈥� Proverbs 15:21 (Amplified)
