What do you do when you make a big fat typo in an email? Blush and own it? This cannot be right — usually, least said soonest mended, surely? Well, yesterday I put my foot in it good and proper. In 2008 I helped to establish a group called Plain English Power, and we worked hard for our goals. Eight years on, we […]
Continue reading
A few days ago, this blog gained Follower #100. I am still savouring the moment, even though I can’t swear exactly when that moment was, and I’m even uncertain about exactly which person was the 100th follower. “Exactly which person” — what a crazy prosopagnosic phrase, as if all readers were a blur of clones. Quite the opposite! The […]
Continue reading
This week my dear big sister Jill turned 80, and this is the poem I wrote for her. Poem for my big sister Jill I wanted to give you a poem eighty years back when you were first-born and armies were rising and peace receding. You learned about consultation in the womb. I wanted to […]
Continue reading
Written materials are top candidates for decluttering Not all writing is sacred. Oh no no no. If we kept every word we wrote, writers would all be living in a midden of our own making. Most writing needs radical surgery before it works When it comes to poems and plays and novels and other books, killing your darlings, […]
Continue reading
Joy of decluttering: know it? Some do, some don’t. I love clearing away clutter: it’s one of my favourite diversions. Last week I had an excuse to clear out half the contents of a little porch, commonly known as the cat’s ensuite. Any excuse will do. This time, a new clothes drier needs a vent. Whoopee — […]
Continue reading