A PICTURE may be worth a thousand words — but which words? Which thousand words, and in what order? Of  the half a million words in the English language, which ones do you leave out?

It is a commonplace of probability theory that six monkeys with six word processors will write the works of Shakespeare if you give them enough time. It used to be typewriters, but the monkeys had trouble with the ribbons. The time required in this lovely mind game tends to infinity, which — like the bolt and the breech and the cocking-piece — we have not got.

You can fix your own PC or cut your own hair or paint your own house and the results can be hilarious, the consequences trivial except for your ego. Not so surgery, or litigation. ("Hand me the other kidney, quick! The cops are here!")

The professional editing of your dissertation or your business plan or your novel may not be a life-and-death matter, but it can make all the difference. It may push you over the line, and so change your life.

Wordwing is a professional editors' co-operative with low overhead. You will get personal attention at every step of the process, and you will not have a shadow on your lung where your wallet used to be.

That's the story in a nutshell. Only 232 words. All the others have been left out.