Leaving a legacy

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Is life just dust to dust? I don’t think so.

We all hope that our time on the planet will not be for nothing. We’d like to leave the world a better or richer place. There are many things we might leave behind after our passing: a wall built, a song recorded, a picture painted or a garden planted.

If you have left a legacy you have changed something, or created something. You will have left your mark. In the long run what will matter most? Possessions and wealth; or moments remembered. Will they remember the money or the love?

In fact there is something we can leave behind which extends our life. You know already what it is.

More valuable than money, it will live on and be passed along by our descendants. It is at your fingertips and within your grasp. It is also the greatest gift of all.

It is your life story. Read more →

Opening lines

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How wonderfully important they are! Take a look below at the beginning to Aunts Up the Cross by Robin Eakin (“My great-aunt Juliet was knocked over and killed by a bus when she was 85”). Another favourite of mine is Puberty Blues by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette (“When we were thirteen, the coolest things to do were the things your parents wouldn’t let you do. Things like have sex, smoke cigarettes, nick off from school, go to the drive-in, take drugs, and go to the beach”).

And see how Andre Agassi starts his masterful autobiography, Open. (“I open my eyes and don’t know where I am or who I am”). Wow. Or this, from Magda Szubanski (“If you had met my father you would never, not for an instant, have thought he was an assassin”).

Then there are classics like: My Place by Sally Morgan, and The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay.

Here are some pretty impressive openings, mostly autobiographical and mostly Australian.

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Jokes & quotes

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King o the ranges cyclist 350x469Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. – Peter De Vries

I have CDO, it’s like OCD but all the letters are in alphabetical order . . . as they should be. – anon

The horizon is nothing but the limits of one’s sight. – anon

The technical term for “being unable to remember the word you want” is, uh . . . – anon

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Different types of editing

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Stilettos beach 350x222There are many different approaches to the task of editing but these are the main ones.

Proofreading
Proofreading is the final check before publication. It looks at spelling, punctuation spacing and so on.

Copy-editing
Copy-editing is a light or medium edit. It aims to achieve accuracy, clarity and consistency in a document. Copy-editing looks at correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style (which includes capitalization, syntax and referencing).

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