Let your fruit be succulent

   Don't hold onto the negatives in
       your life and fly with them!

                             
Sometimes we are inclined to allow the negative things in our life to consume us. We hold on tightly and never let go.  Our minds are constantly thinking of problems and issues and our hearts are heavy with all the frustration, anxiety and despair that they bring. We keep holding on for dear life and take them with us wherever we go.  Eventually we begin to feel miserable and can see nothing positive in our life. The circumstances and issues may still be there but you need to let go at times and focus on other things too!  If you are totally consumed by all the problems and issues, you may not even see the positive in your life anymore or the opportunities that are right in front of you!  

  Why isn't God opening a door?

Is this the question you are asking? Perhaps you have a dream and you don’t understand why God is not coming through for you?

I want to encourage you not to feel despondent. God hears your prayers and he sees your heart, but He also knows what you need in order to fulfil your dream. You may not even realize it but with each life experience and situation you are faced with, God may be preparing and grooming you for what is to come. Through our struggles, He moulds, shapes, and refines us and teaches us powerful lessons that will sustain us in the future.

When you feel anxious about the future, try and seek to understand what the Lord is doing around you. God’s plan is always at work, even when you don’t see it. We only see the puzzle pieces but God sees the entire picture. Embrace each puzzle piece of your life and learn from it. Continue to seek the Lord and trust in Him, for He knows what’s best for you and His timing is perfect.

Thinking back on situations in my life, I see how God was busy equipping and preparing me for my writing aspirations. Through hardships I learnt empathy and compassion, and through the years I gained writing experience and confidence. My journey has also taught me patience and endurance.

Do you have a sense of how God is using your current circumstances to prepare you for your dream or calling?

Have you ever felt like your faith has been tested? On this specific day I certaintly did! Thought I would share my experience with you. :-)    -Margaret-

Ask me to do anything else, but please, please just not parallel parking!  If there is only parallel parking available in town, I will park a block away and rather walk to avoid the parking.

At the company where I worked, it was compulsory to have a driving test done every three years. Arrangements would be made for the driving instructor to come on site to test the employees and I would be frantic when it was almost my turn!

It’s the night before my appointment and I sit anxiously going through all the pictures that I downloaded from the internet on how to do parallel parking. The pictures alone make my heart race and my palms sweaty. ‘Maybe I should phone in sick,’ I ponder for a moment, but decide to rather pray instead.

‘Please Lord, will you PLEASE let it rain tomorrow so that I don’t have to do the parallel parking? Thank you for answering my prayer. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen.’ I know that if it rains the instructor will leave the parallel parking and I will only need to do the driving test. Others have been lucky in this regard. 

I have woken up to the most beautiful sunny day and clear blue sky and I am devastated!  ‘But Lord, You know how nervous I am ...’ I cry out on my way to work. My heart is really beating fast and and I can feel a headache starting.

 I have to go for this test now and I am upset that the sun is still shining. I can't believe that I am upset about a beautiful day? I’m just so nervous!  I open the door and slide into the driver’s seat glancing at the instructor next to me, hoping that he doesn’t notice my foot shaking on the pedal.

As I drive off he turns to me and announces, ‘There is a large truck parked in the way at the testing ground so we will have to skip the parallel parking and only do the driving test.’ I can't believe it! Looking up at the clear blue sky, I smile sheepishly and say a silent prayer.

Editing versus Proofreading

Editing

Editing is an important phase in the publishing process as it prepares a manuscript for typesetting and publication. It not only improves the flow and overall quality of the writing, but the editor ensures that the format is correct and that it adheres to the publisher’s requirements. Editing someone else’s work is a sensitive task and a good editor will never jeopardise the author’s knowledge or the interpretation of the message.The work remains the author’s.

The book Butcher’s Copy-editing, which is a bible for editors, begins with this definition: ‘The main aims of copy-editing are to remove any obstacles between the reader and what the author wants to convey and to find and solve any problems before the book goes to the typesetter so that production can go ahead without interruption or unnecessary expense.’¹

Editing goes far beyond just checking for typos, spelling errors and punctuation errors. It may also include the following:

• Ensuring that the language is correct and consistent. 
• Ensuring that the manuscript is clear and comprehensible. 
• Ensuring that the language is concise and tight, and that there aren’t any gaps. 
• Ensuring that the text flows well, that the quality of the writing is even, and that the tone is appropriate and consistent. 
• Making sure all heading levels, captions and paragraph styles are correct and consistent. 
• Checking and correcting references and cross-references. 
• Ensuring that all references in the text appear in the bibliography. 
• Checking the bibliography for consistency and style. 
• Checking the list of abbreviations with the abbreviations in the text. 
• Ensuring that the table of contents is complete, consistent and matches the actual headings and page numbers in the document. 
• Checking margins, paragraph indention's, spacing between words, lines and paragraphs. 
• Checking the font type and size remains consistent throughout the writing. 
• Identifying ambiguous references, dangling modifiers, homophones, redundancy, personal pronouns, relative pronouns, imbalanced sentences, split infinitives, difficult propositions, subject and verb agreement wordiness etc. 
• Checking and verifying that it conforms to the Publishers style guide. 
• Checking that it complies with the appropriate spelling format. i.e. UK vs. US spelling. 
• Although it is the author’s responsibility, editing may involve research to verify facts if required. 
• Looking for plagiarism, copyright infringement, defamation, offensive material and other ethical and legal problems. 
• Preparation of the manuscript to ensure that the manuscript is clearly marked so that the typesetter knows how to format every element. The editor may compile a brief for the typesetter if requested.

Proofreading

Proofreading is the process of examining the final draft of a document or text — after it has been edited — and it is the final safety net to catch any typos, spelling errors, punctuation errors and grammatical errors that may have slipped past the editing stage. Whether editing or proofreading is required will depend on how well the document or manuscript is written.

 

¹ Judith Butcher, Caroline Drake and Maureen Leach, Butcher’s Copy-editing
   (4^th edition)

Examples of what an Editor will look out for ...

It is not advisable for a writer to edit or proofread his or her own work. Since the author is very familiar with the topic he or she may read what should be written instead of what has been written. It is therefore easy for a writer to overlook errors.

A professional editor has a trained eye to detect errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar and a lot more. To give an idea; the following are some examples of what an editor will pay attention to:

• Ambiguous references
   i.e.  I saw a man on a hill with a telescope.
  Did the man have the telescope or were you looking through a telescope?
• Dangling modifiers
  i.e.  She claimed yesterday she saw a UFO.
  Did she see the UFO yesterday or did she make the claim yesterday?
• Agreement between subject and verb
  i.e.  - Neither the teacher nor the students understand.
         - Neither the students nor the teacher understands.
• Homophones Is the correct word being used?
  i.e.  - horde vs. hoard,
         - loath vs. loathe
         - complement vs. compliment
          - principal vs. principle
• Passive voice vs. active Is the voice consistent and appropriate?
  i.e. - He was gratified by their praise.
        - Their praise gratified him.
• Redundancy
  i.e.  - Ask a question:
           To ‘ask’ is to pose a question so question is redundant.
         - Plan ahead:
            ‘Plan’ is to prepare for the future so ahead is redundant
         - Postpone until later:
            To ‘postpone’ already means to reschedule it at a later time so
            later is redundant.
         - Unexpected surprise:
            By definition a ‘surprise’ is going to be unexpected so
            unexpected is redundant.
         - Still remains:
           ‘remains’ means that something is still there so still is
            redundant.
• Gaps
  Looking out for where the writer may have left an area open with the intention of later inserting text, a graph or image.
  
  
• Spelling Is the correct spelling being use?. i.e. British vs. US
  i.e.  - color vs. colour
         - gray vs. grey,
         - skillful vs.  skilful
         -  learnt vs. learned
         - organise vs. organize
         - civilisation vs. civilization
• Quotations
  i.e.  The convention for treating quotes, Bock quotes, quotes within quotes, double vs. single quotation marks, etc.
• Hyphenated words
  Are you unsure whether a word should be hyphenated or not?
  i.e.  - coordinate vs. co-ordinate
         - cooperate vs. co-operate
         - break up vs. break-up
• Names Is the correct format being used?
  i.e.  F.W. de Klerk vs. FW de Klerk  
• Personal pronouns
  i.e.  - Me and my brother vs. my brother and I
         - She and him came to visit vs. She and he came to visit
• Relative pronouns
  i.e.  - Which vs. that
         - Who vs. whom
• Date and time format Are you using the correct format?
  i.e.  - 11^th May 2015 vs. 11 May 2015
         - 1970’s vs. 1970s
         - 7.30 pm vs. 7.30 p.m.
• Imbalanced sentences
  i.e.  - Leonard is not only a medical doctor, but he also has a PhD in
           history. (Imbalanced)
         - Not only is Leonard a medical doctor, but he also has a PhD in
           history. (Balanced)
• Split infinitives
  i.e.  - Try to vs. try
         - Shall vs. will,
• Hypen (-), En dash (–) and Em dash (—)
  Are you making use of the correct dash?
  i.e.  - twenty-one
         - 2014–2015
         - ‘Look, John, I only meant —’
• Plagiarism/Copyright infringement
  Ensuring that there is no legal implication where the writer has quoted the words from another author.
• Difficult propositions Is the correct sentence structure used?
  i.e.  - A book comprises many pages
                                vs.
         - A book is comprised of many pages.
  
         - You centre on a topic vs. centre around it.
• Wordiness
  Less is more. Sentences should be concise without unnecessary words.
  i.e   Many of those ideas Gretchen barely comprehended and they
        sounded ridiculous since it felt to her that no one in their right
        mind would ever have thought such a thing without being told
        to. [34 words]
  
         Suggested revision:
  
         Gretchen barely comprehended many of those ideas and felt no
         right-minded person would think such ridiculous things on their
         own. [20 words]

Refer to: EDITING VERSUS PROOFREADING

                    MY FAVOURITE BOOKS


A MARK OF THE LION SERIES – By Francine Rivers

The story is Christian based portraying love, revenge and faith. Based in Rome after the fall and destruction of Jerusalem, it focuses on how a simple Jewish slave can change the lives of many.

The slave comes to an aristocratic valerian household and everyone is intrigued by her peaceful and loving manner despite all she has gone through. Marcus Valerian the young aristocratic son is particularly intrigued by her.He tries to fill the empty void in his life with everything Rome has to offer, yet the peace he is looking for is only reflected in the face of the young woman who has nothing but God left.


REDEEMING LOVE – By Francine Rivers
This is a historical romance novel set in the 1850s Gold Rush in California. The story is inspired by the book of Hosea from the Bible. Its central theme is the redeeming love of God towards sinners. Seven-year-old Sarah learns that she is the product of Stafford's adulterous affair with her mother, Mae. At seven years of age Sarah had already learned just how harsh and cruel this world can be. Her father did not want her and her mother, fighting poverty, resorted to prostitution to make ends meet. When Sarah is eight years old, her mother dies, leaving Sarah in the care of her “Uncle Rab” who sells her into prostitution. From here it turns into a beautiful love story


THE GLASS CASTLE – Jeannette Walls
This is Jeanette Walls’ Memoir. Her father, Rex Walls, was an ingenious adventurer and a hopeless alcoholic. Her mother was an artist who abhorred domestic routine and the chores of motherhood. “Why should I cook a meal that will be gone in an hour when I can do a painting that will last forever?” Funny, sad, quirky and loving, The Glass Castle is an almost incredible story of a nomadic impoverished childhood. Later in her life, while Jeanette was living on Park Avenue, covering the Academy Awards and attending black-tie parties at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, her parents were squatting in an abandoned building on the Lower East Side.


I DARED TO CALL HIM FATHER – Bilquis Sheikh
I Dared to Call Him Father is the fascinating true story of Bilquis Sheikh, a prominent Muslim woman. Her unusual journey to a personal relationship with God turned her world upside down-and put her life in danger.




HEAVENLY MAN – Brother Yun
The book is a true story which chronicles decades of persecution that Brother Yun endured under China’s Communist regime and the remarkable ways that the Lord consistently rescued his ministry and preserved his life. This intensely dramatic true story is not for the faint hearted. The process of reading this book would be quite masochistic if Yun did not also describe how the Lord would give him strength to endure each and every trial.


HIDING PALCE, IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE, TRAMP FOR THE LORD – Corrie Ten Boom.
 The book is a true story which chronicles the life of Corrie Ten Boom. During the Second World War , the Ten Boom home became a refuge, a hiding place, for fugitives and those hunted by the Nazis. By protecting these people, Casper and his daughters, Corrie and Betsie, risked their lives. This non-violent resistance against the Nazi-oppressors was the Ten Booms' way of living out their Christian faith. This faith led them to hide Jews, students who refused to cooperate with the Nazis, and members of the Dutch underground resistance movement. The story goes on to describe her life in the concentration camps which was almost unbearable, and how she and Betsie spent their time sharing Jesus’ love with their fellow prisoners. Corrie received many tributes and she was knighted by the Queen of Holland. In 1968, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem (YadVashem) asked Corrie to plant a tree in the Garden of Righteousness, in honour of the many Jewish lives her family saved. Corrie’s tree stands there today.


THE CROSS AND THE SWITCHBLADE – David Wilkerson
"Go to New York City and help those boys." When David Wilkerson heard those words in his heart late one night as he glanced at a picture in Life magazine, he was dumbfounded. The boys in question were members of a violent gang and on trial for murder. He, on the other hand, was a country preacher settled comfortably in a little mountain church in Pennsylvania. What could God possibly expect him to accomplish in New York City, of all places? But the thought would not let him go. His life and the lives of countless despairing teens were changed forever on account of it. This is a true testimony.by David Wilkerson.


RUN BABY RUN – Nicky Cruz
This is the thrilling true story of Nicky Cruz's desperate battle against drugs, alcoholism, and a violent environment, as he searched for a better way of life on the streets of New York City.