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I reacted the way I suppose many writers did when they first saw a Gould proof – with disbelief and dismissal. But a writer soon learns to welcome anyone who can offer real insight into the nature of prose, and that Miss Gould could certainly do. I learned from her neatly inscribed comments that even though I was writing correctly – no syntactical flat tires, no grammatical fender-benders – I was often not really listening to what I was saying. That may seem impossible to a reader who isn’t a writer. But Miss Gould’s great gift wasn’t taking writers seriously. It was taking their words seriously. No writer, at first, is quite prepared for that.

• The Point of Miss Gould’s Pencil