Before books, wild words roamed free, devastating conversations and stories with roving misplaced mangled modifiers and marauding dangling participles. - Simon & Schuster

Then came Taming Wild Words.

While I have been a credentialed health care professional for my entire working life, with a 25-year certification in the field of oncology, my "alternative calling" has been the English language and it's use (or MIS-use). In 8 years of parochial school I was aggressively educated in correct English grammar (won a sentence diagramming contest in 7th grade!), and beginning at age 12 was assigned to help a German boy new to the school, and to the U.S.A., with our English language arts assignments. From there, I went on to more officially tutor other high school students, and then college students at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

As an adult, in medical (clinical and research ) settings I was introduced to proofing and editing documents that were being prepared for grant applications, medical publications and other such purposes. Among the medical institutions and facilities with which I have subcontracted as a consultant are the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Rush University Medical College and Medical Center, Fermi Labs (U.S. government physics research facility in suburban Chicago), Cleveland Clinic, Indiana University Proton Radiation Treatment Center, Cancer Treatment Centers of America (Midwest Regional Medical Center), and many others.

In the personal arena, I have many interests. I taught classical piano for 15 years (having studied formally myself for 13 years), and as a hobby, I have had my pen & ink illustrations displayed in multiple venues in suburban Chicago. I was an active equestrienne until I experienced a neck injury (from an unrelated event) and am still a passionate horse- and dog-lover (ALL animals, actually--except alligators and crocodiles).

My soon-to-be-launched Taming Wild Words editing and proofreading service will allow me to try to allay the virtual excruciating pain and anguish I experience when I encounter the outrageous and widespread abuse of the English language. It is ubiquitous, inescapable and nothing short of shameful. I have reviewed 8 or 10 existing editing/proof-reading web sites and found only 1 proofing service that had fewer than 3 errors on its own page! I am almost--but not quite--embarrassed for them ALL!