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Great letter!

You should always, always proofread. Do you know how many things I've seen that need fixing. On one of my posts, I noticed a typo under a photo caption AFTER I had sent it out and it had been 2 days. I don't know how I ever missed it.

I'm confused. You say, "We lived in a really quiet road." I didn't know you could live IN a road. Or is that something British?

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British 🤓

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Regarding murder your darlings, that was Arthur Quiller-Couch. From his 1916 book, On the Art of Writing: "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.“

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Thanks, Joel. Even as I was writing that I thought, "I know I should check this...". I was racing against time. What an eejit.

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LOL. I’ve just loved that line for years and had a friend who’s a big Q fan. I couldn’t escape its true source :)

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Great letter, Terry - thank you!

I have to pick you up on your suggestion that I am not uneducated, though. In all my years of education I had never even heard the word 'erudition', let alone used it. In looking it up just now it seems I have PROVED that I have indeed been insufficiently educated, because look:

erudition

/ˌɛrʊˈdɪʃ(ə)n/

noun: the quality of having or showing great knowledge or learning; scholarship.

I'll get my coat... 🙄

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I'm glad I am not the only one looking up that word.

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🤣 I feel jolly silly now, Matt, given what it means!!! 🤣

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Don't be daft! You DO show great knowledge. Also, apart from your scurrilous comment about my Mona Lisa, you also demonstrate great appreciation of iconic art. So there.

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Thanks, Terry! 🤣

I'm sorry to bring it up, but is there a wee typo towards the end of the third sentence of your above comment? 😉

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