Seasonal gifts for editorial freelancers 7 December: Business cardsDespite the growth in online promotion and networking, there’s still a place for good old-fashioned business cards. Moo produce lovely cards (and other business stationery), and you can buy a gift card for your favourite freelancer to use on their next Moo order.
Business cards: more useful than Christmas cards…
0 Comments
Seasonal gifts for editorial freelancers 6 December: TeaMany editors seem to require large amounts of tea to keep them going throughout the day. Connoisseurs might prefer loose-leaf varieties, but teabags are, perhaps, more convenient. I’m a fan of Yorkshire Tea (of course), but if you can get your hands on some Murchie’s Editors’ Blend – even better! (It’s Canadian, but the company will ship to the UK – email them for details!)
Seasonal gifts for editorial freelancers5 December: Reference booksAlthough many freelancers do have online subscriptions for their favourite resources, many prefer an actual physical book. The Society for Editors and Proofreaders has a great list of recommended reference books, from general style guides to more specialised works. Some even attract an SfEP members’ discount!
Seasonal gifts for editorial freelancers4 December: The Roost laptop standThis handy accessory makes using the laptop while travelling a doddle. Whether the destination's a local coffee shop or somewhere further afield, the Roost could well prove to be indispensable.
It’s been tried and tested by editor Kate Haigh, who has first-hand experience of using the Roost while on the road. She loves it!
Seasonal gifts for editorial freelancers3 December: CoffeeMany editors swear by coffee, considering it an editing staple: research shows that editors and writers come high up in the list of professions in terms of coffee consumption. Whether it’s a top-quality instant, some extra special ground coffee or some superior beans, the coffee-drinking freelancer will appreciate a contribution to their daily fix.
Seasonal gifts for editorial freelancers2 December: Editing-themed jewelleryPlenty of choice here, with punctuation marks a particular favourite. The ampersand is a particularly elegant shape, and semi-colons seem popular for earrings. Literary options would also be appropriate.
Seasonal gifts for editorial freelancers1 December: Sit/stand deskI’m starting with this one because it’s a big-ticket item that’ll need a lot of thought! Good for the posture, the circulation and the concentration, standing desks have been a hot topic for a good few years now. There are various things to consider – your own physique, the space you have available, your budget, and your current set-up, to name but a few. And there are plenty of variations on the theme. If you’re lucky enough to know a cabinetmaker, you might decide to go for the customised option. Or you might prefer an add-on to your existing desk (see photo). A treadmill desk is another possibility. If the thought of a visit to IKEA just before Christmas doesn’t fill you with total dread, it might be worth having a look at what they have on offer. Proverbs are a rich source of advice on daily life. Here are six sayings that will resonate with freelance editors and proofreaders. 1. You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear Editors and proofreaders might mutter this to themselves as they try to improve a piece of text that’s in a bad way. I’m not sure I agree with the sentiment, though. For a start, it’s not for me to judge that a piece of text is a ‘sow’s ear’. Writing isn’t an easy task, particularly if – as with some of my clients – English isn’t your first language. Also, my view is that improving an author’s written work is what editors and proofreaders are being paid for. Even with limited time or a limited budget, there are almost always things we can do to make improvements. A ‘silk purse’ might not always be achievable, but we can usually manage to create something that’s more presentable than a ‘sow’s ear’. 2. Many hands make light work Although editing and proofreading are often solitary activities, there are times when editorial professionals work together. For example, a couple of years ago I began subcontracting work to a trusted colleague, Laura Ripper, and I wrote about the experience on my blog. I’ve worked on other projects where the work has been shared between a group of editors in order to meet a tight deadline. Communication is the key to success in these situations. Everyone needs to know what’s happening and what’s expected of them. Any issues need to be highlighted and communicated as soon as possible. And an up-to-date house style is worth its weight in gold. 3. Too many cooks spoil the broth Many editors and proofreaders will have experienced this scenario, which is the opposite of the previous one. Perhaps several people working on the same project seem to be doing things in completely different ways. Or a document you’re working on has to incorporate the opinions of various different people who can’t seem to agree (‘editing by committee’). Or there are seven different versions of the same document in circulation. In these situations, the whole job seems to take twice as long and the end result may be far from ideal. There’s a need for some clear ground rules, including a house style, agreed timescales, and effective version control! 4. More haste, less speed As in all walks of life, the more you rush to finish a task, the less progress you will make. If you’re an editor or proofreader, this might mean missing errors that you should have spotted, failing to follow the brief properly, sending the wrong version of a file back to your client, or even sending the right file to the wrong client! It’s important to be realistic when accepting work or negotiating deadlines, and to study the brief you’re given. Using checklists and house styles can also help. It’s worth making every effort to get things right first time. As another familiar saying goes, ‘A stitch in time saves nine’. 5. A change is as good as a rest One of the things I enjoy about my work as a freelance editor and proofreader is the variety. I’d go so far as to say it’s the spice of life. Over the course of my freelance career I’ve worked on a whole range of material, from writing web copy and proofreading pet-food packaging to editing academic journal articles and high-profile reports for an EU agency. It’s even better when I have more than one project on the go at the same time. I enjoy using different skills, reading about a variety of topics, and working on material in different formats. A change of task, pace and subject matter keeps me on my toes. 6. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks Now this is one I’d definitely take issue with. It’s certainly the case that the older you get, the harder it is to learn new things. Also, the longer you’ve been doing a job, the greater the danger that you’ll become set in your ways. But our profession is constantly evolving, so as editors and proofreaders we need to keep up with changes in the industry, technological developments and potential new areas of work. Fortunately, there are many different ways of doing this. Being part of a professional organisation such as the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) is a great way to keep up to date with new ideas and technology. This is particularly important for freelancers, many of whom don’t have the same access to professional support, training and skills development as in-house editorial workers do. Joining a professional organisation also offers the chance to develop valuable relationships with others in the field. Remember: birds of a feather flock together! Are you a member of a Facebook group? If so, you’ll probably appreciate how great they are for sharing views, asking questions, discussing particular topics, and connecting with like-minded individuals. Facebook groups are usually set up to bring together people who share a common interest. That might be a hobby or leisure activity, a political viewpoint, a charitable cause, or perhaps a specific geographical area (the town in which you live, for instance). Such groups can also be used for professional purposes. As an editor, I belong to several editing-related Facebook groups, including Editors’ Association of Earth, Academic Editors and PerfectIt Users. The three types of Facebook groupThere are three types of Facebook group – public, closed and secret – and it’s worth making sure you’re aware of the different levels of privacy in each of these. Facebook provides a handy summary of the privacy settings for each of these groups. In this article I’ll be discussing public groups, as I think those raise the most concerns about privacy (or lack of it). How do you tell what type of group you’re joining?The type of group is specified under the group’s name. On a desktop you’ll see something like this – the little globe indicates ‘public’: If you’re viewing the group on your phone, it might look something like this: Privacy in public groups
Many of us take the time and trouble to protect our personal profile on Facebook – hiding our private information and limiting the audience for posts on our own timeline – but that won’t protect any posts or comments we contribute to a public group. What’s more, posts to a public group might even show up in our friends’ newsfeeds. Should you steer clear of public groups on Facebook?That would be a real shame, as many groups provide an excellent space for their members to share ideas and connect with one another. But there are things you can do to make the most of public groups without damaging your professional (or personal) reputation.
Enjoy public groups!Facebook groups are a valuable resource, and I wouldn’t want to put anyone off being part of them. But it’s important to realise that your posts and comments in a public group are just that – public. Keep this in mind and you’ve nothing to worry about!
Love it or hate it, Microsoft Word is difficult to avoid if you’re an editor, proofreader or writer. So it’s worth getting to grips with Word and familiarising yourself with its many features. This can save you time (which often means ‘save you money’), improve your accuracy, and – particularly when it comes to dealing with repetitive tasks and corrections – leave you free to focus on things that can’t be automated. Even if you’ve been using Word for a while, you may not be familiar with all the tools I’ll mention. Don’t worry: you can still do a good job without them, but it’s worth exploring how each of them could help you. Each tool has its pros and cons, so do take the time to practise and get to know which tool works best for which task. Then, the next time you have a suitable job to do, you can dive straight in and put these tools to work! 1. Find & ReplaceThis is useful when you want to replace one item – whether that’s a single character, a group of characters, a word, a phrase, or most other things – with another. You can refine your search using the ‘More’ button in the Find & Replace box. This will give you various options, such as ‘Match case’ and ‘Whole words only’, and various other choices under ‘Format’ and ‘Special’. PROS Find & Replace is fairly straightforward and intuitive. It allows you to click through and change items one by one, or ‘Replace all’ if you are sure you need to correct all instances in the document. CONS Beware of unintended consequences, particularly when using ‘Replace all’. The results can be amusing (e.g. changing ‘pants’ to ‘trousers’ results in ‘particitrousers’), but remember that mistakes take time to fix. EXAMPLES Changing one spelling to another (e.g. ‘favor’ to ‘favour’) Removing unwanted spaces (e.g. change two spaces to one space after a full stop) Italicise all instances of a word (using ‘Format’) FIND OUT MORE MS Office support, or Word’s in-built ‘Help’ function 2. WildcardsThis feature of Find & Replace allows you to search for a pattern of characters (rather than a particular character, word or phrase) and make specific changes to it. For example, if you wanted to remove the full stop after Dr., Mr. and Mrs., you could use wildcards to find and replace each of these salutations with one that doesn’t include a full stop – something that wouldn’t be possible with a single Find & Replace action. You need to choose the ‘Use wildcards’ option in the Find & Replace box and then use sets of symbols to define what you’re looking for. For example, [A-Z] will find any upper case letter, while b?t will find bat, bet, bit, bot and but – and, in fact, b5t, since the ‘?’ represents any character. PROS Wildcards are a very powerful tool. They are useful because they allow you to find patterns rather than exact strings of characters (as you do with the basic ‘Find & Replace’). CONS They can seem rather baffling at first glance! It takes time to develop the skill of defining terms correctly, so be prepared to practise. As with a normal Find & Replace, there can be unintended consequences. EXAMPLES Transposing names, dates, etc. Inserting spaces between numbers and symbols Formatting references FIND OUT MORE PC World article WordMVP article Jack Lyon’s Wildcard Cookbook (free to download from the Intelligent Editing website) 3. PerfectItThis is an add-in for Word that you can purchase from Intelligent Editing. It’s a consistency checker that analyses your whole document, finds inconsistencies, and lists them so that you can choose whether or not to change each one. PerfectIt has a host of other features, including the facility to use wildcards as part of your tests. It has different style sheets that are available to users, and you can customise the tests to check for specific style issues. You can also share your own style sheets with other users. –PROS PerfectIt is easy to install and use, and it is immensely useful, even if you don’t take advantage of all its customisability. You’re always in control, as you decide which corrections to make and which to ignore. PerfectIt can be useful for analysing a document before you begin editing and for checking that you haven’t missed anything once you’ve finished. It’s customisable to your own or your client’s requirements. CONS You have to pay for it! It's available on an annual subscription, and there are hefty discounts for members of various organisations, including the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP). A previous drawback – that PerfectIt was only available for PC – has recently been partially rectified with the introduction of a cloud version, which can be used on a Mac. EXAMPLES Hyphenation Variant spellings (ise/ize) Capitalisation List punctuation Heading styles Number styles Abbreviations (are they all defined?) FIND OUT MORE Intelligent Editing website 4. MacrosA macro is a series of commands that you run together to save time on repetitive tasks. Each macro performs a different function, or series of functions, and you install each one separately so that you have a menu to choose from. You can also assign keyboard shortcuts to each macro, which speeds things up even more. Anyone can write their own macros, but there are plenty of ready-made ones available. UK editor Paul Beverley has produced a whole book of them, including instructions on how to install and use them, and this is free to download. He also has a useful YouTube channel. PROS Macros are powerful tools that can save literally hours of time on repetitive tasks. They’re free to write, install and use. Even ready-made macros can be customised, once you’re familiar with how they’re put together. CONS They may seem daunting at first, but once you’ve installed your first macro, the world is your oyster! Beware of unintended consequences (see above). EXAMPLES A couple of Paul Beverley’s ‘big’ macros:
FIND OUT MORE Paul Beverley’s website Paul’s YouTube channel There are plenty of online resources to help you with these and other features of Microsoft Word. The Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) has an excellent course – Editing with Word – that covers these and many other aspects of the software. Do spend some time getting to grips with these tools and exploring what Word can do. They can help you to achieve greater accuracy, consistency and speed in your editing and writing. What’s not to like? |
Categories
All
Archives
December 2022
|