Today I received an e-mail asking how to get an article published in the newsletter I work for, but since that's not my function I referred its author to the correct contact. As I looked over the pitch however, I foresaw doom for this plea....


I saw two glaring misspellings in its main paragraph -- two errors that the most rudimentary spell-check device would catch immediately -- and I knew they would not elude our editor's fine scrutiny.
Whenever I write a piece of business correspondence, no matter how functional or perfunctory, I look it over a couple of times before hitting "Send." I ruthlessly prune extra words, which may pad or bloat my thought; I add words as needed to achieve maximum clarity; I re-punctuate; and I keep a sharp eye for squiggly lines, which might indicate a spelling error, or just a colorful colloquialism. Admittedly, I set unreasonably high standards for my own communication, but let's face it, a misspelled editorial pitch has little chance of succeeding, especially with a rigorous arbiter of editorial content.
Proofread first– then hit "Send."