Okay, so there is some paperwork involved, you do have to keep good records of what you’ve spent and what you’ve made, and you should really look into setting up a dedicated office (even if it’s just a corner of the spare bedroom), but I promise, no suits are required. Structuring your writing as a business is the smart thing to do, and you can do it in your pajamas.

Whether you’re an editor orworking with an editor, you’re going to deal with comment boxes, which can bring up a whole new realm of issues, which can lead to a whole new range of curse words. But here’s a quick guide to fixing the four most common problems:

When it comes to the controlling the flow of text across lines and pages, many MS Word users treat this sophisticated, responsive software as if it were an old IBM Selectric. Here are some of the formatting errors we see multiple times a week, errors that can actually keep Word from functioning properly.

Writing a research paper is like following a recipe. You take certain “ingredients,” follow the right steps, and end up with a finished product. Skip important steps or ingredients, and your finished product will suffer, as will your grade.

It might be unfair to judge a book by its cover, formatting, and layout, but all these conventions make it easier to read the book, and we should all think carefully about breaking these rules. If you have a good reason that fits with the content and tone of your book, go ahead and get creative. But by knowing the conventions of book design, you’ll be able to make more informed choices that lead to a stronger book overall.

Stories survive on their dialogue. Yes, there are some great novels with page after page of narration and description, and if you’re a future Nobel-winner wunderkind, more power to you. For the rest of us, it’s in conversations that characters primarily reveal themselves, interact with each other, and live out a story’s social life.

So if you’ve been asked to write a letter of recommendation, you’re in a pretty good place. You’re probably feeling flattered to have been asked, and you get to dole out some social rewards to a valued protégé or colleague. Here’s a double fistful of pointers to help you get started.

OK, because I make a living fixing people’s grammar, I’m obviously going to say that good grammar is super-duper important. But give me a moment anyway, if you please, because I’m going to explain why and when.

Thankfully, setting up a writing business really isn’t difficult. There are a few steps that need to be done carefully and some details to pay attention to, but once you get the structure in place and get used to a few routines, you’ll be in good shape.

More advice, explanations, and examples about those pesky commas errors and how to avoid them.

To follow up on our look at using testimonials in your resume, let’s flip the script. Maybe one of your colleagues is looking for consulting work, or perhaps a young person whom you have mentored is setting off on a new career path. A recommendation from you could help that person land a position. How do you write an effective testimonial?

Whether you’re a full-time freelance writer, a weekend blogger, or publishing as part of your regular career, writing at a professional level carries with it some duties and deductions at tax time.

Using someone else’s words is an accepted and valid strategy. Let’s look at testimonials and how to use them in your resume. Remember, when you borrow words that belong to other people, take good care of them.

But being fluent in a language doesn’t just mean memorizing a list of idioms (hundreds of which will come up on a quick Google search). You have to know how and when to use them.

Bad writing is everywhere, and it’s often not a lack of knowledge about the mechanics of writing that causes problems, but a flawed writing process. So, if you want to blow some mids (er, minds) with your writing, follow these tips to improve your writing habits.

Wssay grading is no more subjective than other methods. Here are four simple, hard-and-fast quality measures that universally apply to grading papers.

There are three types of resume headers. Choose the one you need carefully. Then let’s look at some common headers and consider them from a recruiter’s perspective.

Editors and writers find some words particularly challenging, changing them over and over again to make language more precise.