If you’ve written a business report; magazine article; short-story; manuscript; press release; or thesis that still lacks “finish”, and would like to get that diamond out of the rough without incurring the cost of a professional, you’re sure to benefit from The Write Co.’s Editing Edge workshop. Editing Edge is designed to help writers and editors of all kinds sharpen the cutting-edge of their editing, and learn to achieve a high-gleam polish to make their client, publisher or editor sit up and take notice.

“What many freelance editors don’t tell you out there,” says course facilitator, Morné Malan, “is that most of the expensive work they do for writers and authors can be done – at no actual cost – by the writer him- or herself.”

Malan claims that writing improves drastically on the first draft. “You’re not wasting time on redundacies and superfluous wording,” says Malan. He speaks from experience, having spent two years at a PR firm, writing and self-editing press releases; two years at a publishing house, working as a journalist and online editor for a trade rag; and no less than seven years as a bilingual copywriter and translator in the advertising industry. On top of this, Morné is a published short story author, and is currently completing a PhD in English. “Writing has always been one half of my life. Self-editing is the other.”

Editing Edge is a one-day workshop presented at the Write Co.’s offices in Bryanston on Friday, 23 May, from 09:00 to roughly 14:30, including tea breaks and a light lunch.

The workshop will cover the following aspects:
*An introduction to editing and self-editing;
*Punctuation;
*Syntax, tenses and concord;
*Formatting;
*Figures of speech and style;
*Editing practice; and
*Commonly confused words and expressions.

Facilitators include Nicci Stewart, Paula Marais, Anthony Ehlers and Morné Malan.

To book one of the limited workshop spaces, call Wiida on 011 7064021, or email info@thewriteco.co.za.