This morning I was surprised to see that I was the writer of the star letter in MacUser magazine. Not bad, considering I had drafted the letter in a hurry on a Sunday morning, emailed it and forgotten about it.

It’s a reminder that a well-written letter on a topic of interest can catch an editor’s attention and achieve exposure for you, your views or expertise.

This demonstrates the power of words and the value of using them effectively.

Many businesses or organisations decided to publish a newsletter and launch enthusiastically into issue 1 as their first and last effort. Maintaining periodical production is like keeping a train or heavy lorry moving: it takes a tremendous amount of effort at first, but as long as you keep it moving it will roll along almost effortlessly. The danger is in letting it stop; then you have to start it moving all over again.

Over the years, I’ve edited newsletters and magazines for companies, business organisations and voluntary groups, and the above applies to all of them.

How do you attract people’s interest and participation? Obviously, producing a publication that is worth reading is important, but I also try to reach out to every area of the company or organisation to represent their interests. The result is that people start to send you contributions or suggest ideas for articles voluntarily.

I’m editing a magazine at the moment and have received a variety of articles ranging from the interesting to the ones where I’ve politely suggested some improvements to the writer. While not everyone is a natural writer, nobody likes to be told that their contribution is too poor to publish, and it’s surprising how some positive suggestions can result in an improved article the next time.

I really enjoy editing magazines because of the enjoyment they can give both to contributors and readers. It’s worth putting in the effort to maintain the momentum and keep interest alive.

Robert Zarywacz

Recently, I received a newly printed brochure from a local company.

It looked very good, but unfortunately a glaring error stared out of the text. The spelling was correct, but it was the wrong word.

Watch out for this when checking text using a spell-checker on your PC. It will not alert you to the fact that the wrong word has been used, because it is not clever enough.

Ultimately, ask someone independent of the production process – ie not the writer, designer or you – to proofread text before publishing or going to print. It’s well worth it.

Here are some similar sounding words, which have different meanings – take care when using them:

• their (belonging to them) and there (at that place)

• bear (to carry) and (bare) plain, unclothed

• compliment (to praise) and complement (to make complete)

• discreet (unobtrusive) and discrete (separate)

• dependant (one whoe depends on another) and dependent (depending on)

• principal (first in rank) and principle (fundamental truth)

• programme (plan of proceedings) and program (computer software)

Use the right word, as the wrong one can change the meaning of your text.

A proofreader can spot errors such as these.

Robert