6.Don’t rely too much on your word processor’s grammar checking features. They can be quite impressive, but their capabilities are still quite limited. Spelling checkers are also limited in their capabilities, since they cannot recognize a lot of proper names and technical terms. In addition, spell checkers cannot detect situations wherein user has entered wrong word in place of proper one.

7.Proofread, proofread and proofread… over and over. When you’re done, have a friend proofread your work as well.

8.Remember your target audience. Ask yourself, “What information will my audience require in order to understand what I’m saying?”

9.Avoid clever wordplay unless you’re sure that it will work. In most cases, it is best to gain more writing experience before trying something witty.

10. Remember artists adage, “Practice, practice, practice”? If you want to become good at writing, then write, write and write!

But I do know outcome of something that happened when I was editor of Torrance Press, a weekly newspaper in Los Angeles area. The advertising department was jubilant when it landed a two-page double truck (two-page) ad from Sealy mattress company. The ad carried company's slogan in big, bold, black letters: "Sleeping on a Sealy, Is Like Sleeping on a Cloud." But something happened in translation from copy to print. That Thursday morning, thousands of readers were introduced to a new slogan: "Sleeping on a Sealy, Is Like Slipping on a Cloud." The paper, of course, offered to make good. The following week, readers discovered a revised message: "Sleeping on a Sealy, Is Like Sleeping on a Clod." That was end of what we had hoped would be a long-term heavenly relationship.

I was glad, that week, to be in editorial and not in advertising. Still, I have committed my fair share of typos over years. In a book chapter on writing I wrote:

Good Public Relations writing, like good journalistic writing, should be clear, simple, economical. Short words, short sentences, short paragraphs. Simple rather than complex words. One word rather than two words. The precise word instead of a fuselage of words.

Fuselage of words? Ooops! The precise word should have been: fusillade of words! That booboo finally got corrected in a new printing.

Years ago, I learned of an intriguing Chinese cultural custom. I don't know if it still exists. When a Chinese person wrote a letter, writer always made one deliberate spelling mistake. This was meant as a sign of humility, to acknowledge that writer did not consider himself a perfect human being. Other cultures have similar customs, leaving works flawed to show that only God is perfect.

Frankly, I don't have to go out of my way to prove that I am a flawed and imperfect human being. I have left plenty of unintended typos in my wake, that prove point. My most embarrassing one? It occurred in author biography at end of my biblical novel, "Abraham, The Dreamer/An Erotic and Sacred Love Story." In first line of biography I left out "t" in Gompertz. I misspelled my own name! It also slipped by me in proofreading!