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Doing it well

By Linda Wegner Over the past several decades I’ve had the privilege of having these inspirational articles published in a number of weekly newspapers.

By Linda Wegner

Over the past several decades I’ve had the privilege of having these inspirational articles published in a number of weekly newspapers. As well, a number of magazines (I honestly don’t remember how many) have assigned and paid for articles they’ve 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’s no need to further elaborate but I consider myself richly blessed to have had these opportunities. But, like any worthwhile activity, there’s a lot goes on in the background; here’s a microscopic peek at that.

Because I’m well aware that I make plenty of “goofs” 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’t 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 “flows”, 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’s do it well.

“Foolishness is joy to him who is without heart and lacks [intelligent, common] sense, but a man of understanding walks uprightly [making his course straight].” Proverbs 15:21 (Amplified)