Joan urged the group to try the writing competitions site txtlit.co.uk for practice on the art of concise and precise writing within 160 characters.
She reminded members that, to improve their writing, they should always check grammar and style and not be satisfied until they have honed it to the best of their abilities, not forgetting to read it aloud.
Web tools also have their place and can be used to help in the editing process; however, they do have their limitations so we shouldn’t rely on them too much.
Joan recommended keeping up to date with new trends in publishing but stressed the importance of being consistent, whatever we did.
The session concluded with a practical exercise involving editing a few sentences Joan had provided for the purpose. We then had the option of checking against Joan's suggested solutions.
Although not all members totally agreed with the proposed solutions, the exercise had at least made everyone think about the importance of editing.
All in all, a worthwhile workshop - thank you, Joan!
(This report was compiled by Diana Devlin from notes taken on the day by Hilary Stevenson.)