Proofreaders and the paparazzi: getting headshots taken
| 30 November 2017
Every two months, members of the South Warwickshire and Coventry local group of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (formerly the Society for Editors and Proofreaders) meet at a pub in Leamington Spa. Our discussions include all sorts of work-related topics, and I think we all find the meetings a very valuable resource – Continue reading
What are the benefits for proofreaders of meeting clients face to face?
| 30 October 2017
You might have read my last blog post about many proofreaders enjoying getting out of the office now and again, even if they love their job. So while the dominating features of many self-employed proofreaders are spending a lot of time alone working, doing admin and marketing, and generally running a business, another, for me Continue reading
Why it’s good to escape from the office – the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading 2017
| 25 September 2017
The proofreader’s office I wonder what people would say if they were asked to describe the sort of office a self-employed proofreader might work in? Would they describe an isolated, minimalist office overlooking a well-tended garden with an amazing view of distant hills? Or would they picture a dingy back bedroom cluttered with junk, piles Continue reading
Theses and dissertations (part 2): How to avoid inconsistency of style
| 3 April 2017
In part 1 of this post, I suggested an easy method to avoid being inconsistent in the use of tense in your thesis or dissertation. This post considers a quick and easy way to avoid inconsistency of style. Examples of such an inconsistency could be applying italics to only some instances of the same Continue reading
Theses and dissertations (part 1): An easy way to make sure tense is consistent
| 7 March 2017
How tense is used has been a problem area in nearly all of the theses and master’s dissertations I’ve proofread since I started my business in 2009. In addition to correcting spelling, grammar and punctuation and doing checks for consistency of style (use of italic, capitalisation, hyphenation, and so on), I check whether tense Continue reading
Grammar: the generation gap
| 5 January 2017
Once a week for about the last five years, I’ve sneaked off to a two-hour Italian lesson at a language college in Birmingham. I’ve loved it, though it’s been a challenge. Strange though it may sound to some, I like learning Italian grammar rules. I’ve recently stopped going to these lessons, but an email exchange Continue reading
Editing a style guide – when is editing needed?
| 28 November 2016
You may have read my last blog post, ‘A new experience: copy-editing for a publisher’. It was about working for a different type of client for the first time (a publisher) – I usually work for individuals. I mentioned in that post that parts of the style guide for this first copy-editing job I did Continue reading
A new experience: copy-editing for a publisher
| 6 November 2016
I’ve been proofreading and copy-editing professionally since 2009 and almost all of my work has been for non-publishers such as academics, researchers, postgraduates and businesses or other organisations. Although I send details to clients of what they can expect from my proofreading and copy-editing services, most of my clients have been happy for me to Continue reading
Welcome to my new proofreading blog
| 8 September 2016
‘Write a proofreading blog’ has been on my to-do list for a long time. I’m finally dragging myself into the twenty-first century and starting it today. I’ve always managed to find an excuse not to start that first draft. I suddenly find jobs that apparently need doing immediately, such as filing emails or mopping the Continue reading