June 9, 2005

Jane Davis

46350 Rock Creek Town Road

Haines OR, 97833

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Jane Davis. About three years ago, I began working on a Master’s degree in Creative Writing which included writing a novel as my creative thesis. In addition to my educational goals, I wanted my thesis to be professionally competitive. I found that as I revised, moved sections around, changed parts, and became immersed in the work, I became blind to many small errors. I needed a proofreader to catch all the things I was missing, and James Kerns came to my rescue.

I’ve known James for over thirty years, and have relied on him in many situations. He is a consistently careful and thoughtful person, who takes pride in all of his work, no matter what it is. The care and attention he gave to my book are a reflection of this.

The first thing I noticed when he returned my manuscript was a long list of page numbers, identifying those pages that had errors. He didn’t want me missing anything. As I read and made corrections into the computer, I was impressed with his meticulous work. He has a precise knowledge of grammar and punctuation, and he is a careful reader. In a work as long as a novel, it’s easy to get tired and become less vigilant, but I found that his work was consistent throughout the entire book. In fact, he found more errors in the last half, because I had become tired and sloppy. While he carefully noted punctuation and syntax, he also made comments on passages that were out of place, illogical, or hard to understand. This extra feedback was invaluable to me.

I had expected that James would take two or three weeks to go over my manuscript, but he had the entire novel carefully proofread within about four days. His promptness enabled me to have extra time to iron out wrinkles in my work before I sent it off.

I have great confidence in James’ abilities as a proofreader and would heartily recommend him. Although my own work is fiction, I know that he is a technical writer and has proofread a variety of materials. His knowledge, skills, and precision will be an asset to any writer who uses his services.

Sincerely,

Jane Davis