Redraft Writers
 John
Fletcher Carol Ann Wilson Elin Woodger
John Fletcher
 My
name is John Fletcher. I live in England, about 30 miles west
of London. When running public courses in effective writing for
professional bodies, I invite participants to send samples of
their desk writing before the course. I write comments, to hand
back privately on the first day. (This process still continues.)
With a word processor I saved time by creating about 250 files,
each about a frequent bloomer. I naturally tailored the comments
for each person.
The Redraft site is the logical conclusion of that principle.
Send samples of your official writing. Now with three others
as well, wisdom can be at your disposal without even travelling
expenses.
John Fletcher has spent most of his working
life either as a Communication Officer in industry, or teaching
communication skills (chiefly how to write) in a College, in
books, and on short intensive courses.
His most useful book on writing is: The
Business Guide to Effective Writing - published by
Kogan Page, £7.99 - ISBN 1 85091 291 2; and translated
into Spanish.
John also runs a small publishing firm, Porpoise Books,
mostly devoted to books by or about P G Wodehouse.
Contact John Fletcher: johnafle@aol.com
Carol Ann Wilson
 I
live in Houston, Texas, USA, and have spent 35 years working
for lawyers in three states (Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas since
1980). I have been fortunate enough to work for outstanding lawyers
who would take the time to answer my "why?" questions,
but none could satisfactorily answer my questions about gobbledygook
and legalese in legal documents. Around 1986 I learned that a
federal judge in Houston named Lynn Hughes had local rules that
forbade legalese in pleadings filed in his court. Wow! It made
such sense. That was when I became interested in the Plain Language
Movement and discovered that it is, indeed, worldwide and that
some degree of it exists in just about every discipline.
I began to write articles in publications for legal secretaries
and legal assistants. I then worked on seminar presentations
about concise legal writing. The topic was extremely well received,
but such things are ingrained deeply, from law school onwards,
and change comes slowly, if at all. I attended conferences of
the Plain Language Consultants Network in Canada, a group that
has now become Plain Language Association International (PLAIN),
and hosted a conference in Houston in February 2000. During the
course of my mission to rid legal documents of legalese and other
forms of bad writing, I wrote Plain Language Pleadings, which
was published by Prentice Hall in 1996, to help legal assistants
who draft pleadings for their bosses and thus reach the lawyers
through another avenue.
Now employed for a publicly traded company that operates several
subsidiaries, I work with our General Counsel, edit documents,
and write manuals, press releases, and all forms of correspondence.
I believe that communication is only good if it is understood
by its intended audience, and that all letters should be just
one page long.
My personal Web site is at www.compassnet.com/cawilson.
Contact Carol Ann Wilson: carol.wilson@itisinc.com
Elin Woodger
 I
began writing and editing part-time in Boston in 1997, and full-time
when I moved back to Rye Brook, New York, two years later. My
freelance business has included ghost-writing, copyediting, and
proofreading jobs for publishers and book packagers in New York
and Massachusetts, covering a wide range of nonfiction topics.
These have included American history, British history, cold war
politics, biography, marketing, salesmanship, business résumés,
performance evaluations, motivational techniques, and encyclopedias,
among others. I have also worked with other authors, helping
them to prepare their manuscripts for publication, which has
sometimes involved not only editing but extensive rewriting.
When I married and moved to London, England, in October 2001,
my business came with me, and I continue to work for and with
clients in the United States. I have just started publishing
under my own name: Encyclopedia of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
is being published by Facts on File (New York) in December 2003.
One of the advantages of proofreading and editing other writers'
work is that I have developed a feel for common errors of grammar
and style. I have also come to appreciate the importance of rhythm
in writing, something that is all too often overlooked. Living
in England I have learned many of the differences between American
English and British English in spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
I am fortunate to be just a phone call (or an email) away from
John Fletcher, with whom I frequently compare notes on language
and usage. I think we have both learned quite a lot from each
other!
After so much experience of editing writers whose efforts
to be both factual and interesting often fail, I know that good
writing is not just a gift; it can only be acquired by hard work.
Because I have learned so much from other writers and editors,
I am pleased to be able to pass on my expertise to any who may
need it, whether it is to answer a question, help to sort out
a difficult piece of writing - or redraft an entire document.
Contact Elin Woodger: ewmurphy@onetel.net
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