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10/24/2019

Flipping the switch was flipping me out. Last week's storm left us without power.

It was Thursday morning and I was up early. Not because the alarm went off. No, it was the rain lashing against the bedroom window that woke me. Woke me before the alarm that was set for 5:00. So I got up.

Fifteen minutes later the power went out.

It was a blackout: no power, no lights, no heat, no opening the refrigerator, and no computer.

A day and a half later (37 hours, but really, who's counting) we still didn't have power.

But I was still flipping switches.

You'd think that after 37 hours I would have stopped.

It wasn't that I was hoping the power was back, it was utterly clear that it wasn't. It was habit. An especially bad habit in light of things.

At least a dozen times I flipped a wall switch. And each time it was the same thing. Nothing.

It was worse than nothing.

I was ready to scream. Well, I did scream. It was so frustrating.

Flipping the switch was flipping me out.

So I put my headlamp on.
The headlamp gave me what I needed: a beam of light.

All the light I needed and a fresh approach to a nagging problem.

Another blackout.
The illustration at the top of this email is newspaper blackout. In the storm's aftermath, I couldn't resist the combination.

I studied the words until something popped:
The point is to see it fresh.

Are you struggling with a project?
If so, maybe I can help:

• copywriting
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Call 207-252-9757 or write today for a free consultation and a fresh start.

3 Things Brussels Sprouts Taught Me About Writing

10/1/2019

Photo of Brussels Sprouts with Blog Title

It was the third round of editing on a piece I was writing about the autumn harvest. It was all about kale, collards, squash, and Brussels sprouts. The problem was, I had it all wrong.

Instead of Brussels sprouts, I was writing brussel sprouts. No capital B at the beginning, no s on the end of Brussels.

I'd cooked and eaten lots of Brussels sprouts, but clearly I'd never written about them.

Lesson #1: Proper names have proper spellings.
When a red line appeared below the misspelled "brussel," I was surprised. So I checked the dictionary.

I found the correct spelling: A capital B? A bit more digging revealed the name comes from the city of Brussels, in Belgium.

Wholly cabbage.

Unless you're certain about the correct spelling of a product, a city, a town, someone's name, title, or product, look it up.

That was last year. This year, I have another editing tip courtesy of the Brussels sprout.

Last week I was watching a cooking show when the chef introduced a new segment by saying, "Today we're making Brussels sprouts."

Lesson #2: Ask yourself, "Is that what's really going on?"
Of course the chef wouldn't be "making" Brussels sprouts, as in constructing or creating them. He would be cooking them. Or, maybe he'd be roasting them.

In the context of the show, it didn't matter much. It was a live taping and viewers could watch and listen.

But his word choice caught my ear. I've been writing a lot and that means I'm rewriting and editing a lot.

I wanted to edit the script, to rewind the tape and have the chef say, "Today we're roasting Brussels sprouts."

Roasting is a more descriptive word. Making is vague and in this example, inaccurate.

Every word has a purpose.

Lesson #3: Just because you're familiar with something doesn't mean you know all you need to know.

It turns out eating Brussels sprouts didn't make me an expert. From misspellings to context and relevance, it's important to know what you're writing about. Do some research. Dig around. What you find may not only surprise you, it could add a new dimension to your project.

Autumn Harvest by Christine Richards

Get Your Cabbage On
Are you a fan? Brussels sprouts with a capital B offer a boost of vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin K. And they're good for gut health, too.

The only question is, how will you cook them?

Feeling the heat?
If you don't like to write, are feeling overwhelmed, or just need a fresh set of eyes to read through what you written, let me know. I can help with:

editing
writing
content development
project management
websites
legacy books
magazines

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Notes on illustrations:
The title illustration with the Brussels sprouts images was created for this post. The letter is hand-drawn using Ledge, a lettering style I developed for my Riddle Me Mail project. If you're interested, here's a how-to lettering guide for Ledge.

The autumn collage was also created for Riddle Me Mail. You can learn more about my collage process here.

Call 207-252-9757 or write today for a free consultation.

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3 Things Brussels Sprouts Taught Me About Writing

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