I’ve achieved some rather major literary goals this year, and last night I celebrated with two lovely women. There's me in the middle. (Those holes in my top are a design feature, not a result of drunken undressing in the dark. I wish.) On the right is Joanna, and to the left is Sara: the…
How to Avoid Huge Ships
I want to share with you a marvellous book I was gifted earlier this year. I'm the first to admit I am a little anally retentive. That's one of the reasons being a proofreader is the perfect profession for me - I love finding mistakes and correcting them. (Friends and acquaintances reading this: you may now scrape…
Employing a Professional Proofreader
This is an article I wrote for NZ Business and Management Magazine. It's in the November issue, which is out now. You’re a business that prides itself on communicating effectively to its clients and prospects. You produce brochures, flyers and other written marketing material. Your website is a major component of your communications plan. Your company produces…
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
My fab friend Sara and I recently sat down and chatted about one of my favourite books ever: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Check out our conversation (and then check out the other posts on her cool blog). Thanks Sara (and Joanna)!
The Singing Bellbird
Music has always informed my writing process. I'm a singer and have been involved in musical theatre for years, so it's hardly a surprise that I try to make my words sing and my sentences lyrical and easy on the ear. It’s important to me that my writing not only reads well, but sounds beautiful.…
Great new blog for book lovers
My dear friend Sara has just started a new blog, and it's going to be fantastic. She and her dear friend, Joanna (whom I like very much but don't know very well), interview each other about books they've been reading, then transcribe the interviews. What a fabulous idea! And why didn't I think of it?…
Why good grammar matters
“Sticklers Unite!” is the rallying cry from Lynne Truss in her #1 New York Times bestseller for grammar nerds, Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. I’m a stickler and proud of it. And not a closeted one, either. My profession—proofreader, editor and writer—is just a tiny giveaway, for a start. Then…
What Makes a Good Proofreader?
I wrote this article for New Zealand Author, the official publication of the New Zealand Society of Authors. It was published last week. You have drafted and redrafted. You may have had some or all of your manuscript assessed. Finally, with relief and incredulity, you have typed The End and poured yourself a glass of…
Love After Love
This poem has always meant a great deal to me. Everyone will have their own interpretation, but for me it speaks of false self and real self; relinquishing the former and finally, joyfully, discovering the latter. Its author, Derek Walcott, was born in Saint Lucia in the West Indies in 1930. He won the Nobel Prize in…
The Milford Chronicles: Chapter Four
This is the last instalment in my account of walking the Milford Track last month. If you've just joined me, you may want to read Chapters One - Three before this one. Chapter Four: Day 4: Dumpling Hut to Sandfly Point Breakfast was followed by goodbyes. We were all departing at different times for Sandfly…
Patricia Bell, Author 