Editing, Writing, Teaching

• professional editing
• writing workshops & coaching
  
• freelance writing

Although Speargrass is based in Colorado, clients around the world can access the online editing and writing services I provide. I serve a diverse group of clients:

• writers in a variety of genres
• publishing companies
• students at all levels
• non-profit leaders

My resume attests to the love of language woven through my word-based career. I have edited dozens of manuscripts; taught post-secondary classes in linguistics, writing, and English grammar; and written and published numerous articles. My passion for and understanding of English and the writing process may be just what you need to achieve your goals.

About Speargrass Communications

The goal of Speargrass Communications is to produce writing that is clear, concise, elegant, deeply rooted in knowledge and use of language, and well-suited to its context and readers. I pursue this goal through editing the writing of others, educating others so they can improve their own writing, and writing for others.

Please contact me to discuss your project and to see if we’d make a good match. Ask me for a free estimate.

To get a better sense of what I have to offer, please see my resume.

Years ago I stood before the ancient cuneiform tablets at the Royal Ontario Museum and marveled at the elegance of the delicate wedge-shaped symbols. Someone with something to say had once put stylus to clay, perhaps hoping his words (almost certainly a man) would last beyond his lifetime. Millennia later I was thanking his people for the gift of writing, for it may have been the Sumerians who first translated the ephemeral sounds of speech into written form.

Every gift brings responsibility. Writing is a gift to be treasured, respected, and used to make positive change in the world. I believe that most people want their words to count, to have an impact, to be remembered.

If ideas are butterflies, language is a net: the finer the mesh, the better the chance of capture. But free-floating ideas, unlike butterflies, need embodiment in order to be useful. Not only must they be made visible, but their manifestation in writing should be clear, concise, and readable by the writer’s target audience. My vocation is to help writers achieve that kind of elegance and usefulness.

In the 30 years that I have studied and worked with language, I have gained not only an appreciation of its complexities and nuances, but also a sense of responsibility for the appropriate and effective use of its written form. I’m fascinated with the dynamism of written language, with how it changes with each technological advance, but I must also admit to shivers of dismay when I see an apostrophe or semi-colon misused, when a hundred words are used when ten would do, or when email lingo and shortcuts are used on a supposedly professional website.


I recently traveled through a state that will remain unnamed and saw, every few miles, a sign that read “Buckle up – its the law,” without the requisite apostrophe. Ouch! Surfing through a beautifully designed website and seeing errors, awkward sentences and ambiguous phrasing hurts. Picking up a memoir filled with poignant stories written in limp, error-filled, wordy prose makes me reach for my red pen.

As an editor, my role is to take your potential for engaging an audience and help make your writing worth reading. I will use the keen eye and ear for language that I’ve developed over the years and make suggestions – many of them – that will help polish your writing so your readers will keep turning the pages.

As a writer, I'll embody your ideas in readable, informative, clear prose specifically designed for your target audience.

As an educator, I can help you develop skills that will last a lifetime – knowledge and techniques that you can use whenever you put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.