I’ve always been a lover of words. I was that child with the torch under the bedclothes trying to finish whichever book I was reading, and whilst I liked to have fun with my friends as much as the next child, bad weather and sick days would find me working my way through piles of books from the library. Indeed, a childhood friend recently reminded me that one of her favourite memories of me was being in the library during the summer school holidays and only being able to see my eyes over the pile of books I was carrying :). After college training many moons ago my very first real job was as shorthand secretary to one of four senior partners at small firm of architects in London; in actuality my working day comprised of taking shorthand all morning and then typing it up, getting it out and getting it filed in the afternoon. I was blessed with a lovely boss who was sensitive to the fact that I was straight out of college so inexperienced in the working world, and he was hugely supportive. One of his favourite pastimes was to look up the most complicated words he could find to use when dictating to me, just to see if I understood their meaning and could take them down correctly. After six months I got a job at an international company as shorthand secretary to two managers, one of whom was a challenging individual who insisted on writing out everything he wanted typed and taking back his draft to check any changes I had made. He would get very agitated when I corrected his punctuation, spelling, grammar and phrasing (which was frequently necessary) and more so when I explained my changes. It finally came to a head one day when I was forced to tell him on the office floor that his job was to let me know what he needed me to do and to provide the necessary information, and mine was to ensure it was prepared and sent out correctly written and formatted. I fully expected to be fired that same day but nothing happened, and we had a much better working relationship from that point on once he acknowledged that I knew what I was doing. Thus began the development of my editing and proofreading skills, which were well used and expanded throughout my career working for both small businesses and large corporations, even though they were never considered a formal part of any of my duties. Now retired from the corporate world, I’ve been kept busy informally using my skills to help others improve their writing, so I made the leap and started my own business providing quality copyediting and proofreading services to those asking for help.