RSS

Category Archives: proofreading

On being edited

13 Feb

editsWriters are always being told by other writers (and editors) about the importance of being edited. But what does it actually feel like to have someone go through your precious words with that dreaded red pen? Only recently, as I’ve struggled with edits in my own book, have I realised how my clients must feel when they receive their poor corrected texts back from me. I hope this new understanding will help me to be a better editor …

On being edited

I’ve been putting together an e-book based on my Libro Full Time blog which has charted my experiences of going full-time self-employed. I pulled all the blog posts together, added some commentary, an introduction, fleshed it out a bit, read it through … but before I went to publish it I did as all good writers (should) do and considered having it edited.

I put a call out for beta readers and a few kind volunteers spoke up. One read it and made some excellent, useful comments, although I was a little thrown even then to see my words through someone else’s eyes. Another friend did EXACTLY as I hoped she would – she went through it line by line, picking out errors, suggesting better ways of writing sentences, AND commented on the structure, the way it hung together, how the experience of reading it could be improved.

This is the Thing: One It was like having ME edit that book. And I know I’m a decent editor

This is the Thing: Two I hated reading those comments the first time round

This is how I make my clients feel!

That was my first thought. No: my first thought was, “My text, my beautiful text! How dare she muck with it??” All defences up, all crests raised, spines bristling, eyes watering …

And I must be at pains to point out here that my friend:

  • Did it right – she said exactly what I would have said had the document been written by anybody else
  • Did it kindly – no snarkiness, no visible or invisible sighs
  • Did a good job – she picked up micro and macro errors
  • MADE THE TEXT BETTER – she really, really did

But my knee-jerk reaction, in pretty well this order, was

  • Anger – how dare she mess with my text? I write stuff all the time! It can’t be wrong! … oh …
  • Horror – how did I not notice THAT?
  • Shame – I was going to publish this pile of rubbish?
  • Embarrassment – someone has seen this in this state!
  • Despair – will I ever get this into shape or should I just give up now? I know, I’ll give up

In the interests of research, I’ve gone back and looked at the text. It’s fine: it can be whipped into shape and it will be a much better book for it.

Once I’d gone through these cycles of shame, horror, despair and … finally … acceptance, the terrible realisation dawned on me …

This is how my clients must feel when they get their work back from me

Is it just me, or is it everyone?

I asked some editor colleagues, writers and people I’ve worked with what being edited feels like to them. We all know it’s a worthwhile process – but I was after the emotional reaction.

My old friend, Annabelle Hitchcock from Yara Consulting reported that she feels quite comfortable about being edited, “but specifically about being edited by you, Liz. I know you and I trust you and I know that you know my writing style and won’t alter it into something that it’s not. I also trust you to give me feedback, and to make sure that I’m actually communicating what I THINK I’m communicating”. So that trust is very important, and makes it easier (although I trusted the ladies who looked at my text, too, of course … )

Trust comes up for Alison Mead of Silicon Bullet, too – “Personally for my blog posts, knowing I am going to be edited means I can type my stream of consciousness without worrying too much about grammar and spelling , so my words can have the flow they would if I was talking them – but I have the confidence that those errors will be picked up and corrected. To be honest I don’t notice the edits – so have no idea how many changes you actually make! It is good to have that trust and confidence about the job being done well!”.

So these two highlight the ideal working relationship between an editor and a writer. It’s worth noting that I have been working on small blog post texts for these two ladies for a few years now, and have known them for significantly longer. But how do you build up that trust instantly? And what if’ you’re an editorial and writing professional yourself?

Here’s someone who actively enjoys it, but do note that he still finds it challenging: “I enjoy being edited. It gives me a chance to see how other editors do things, gets me to think about things I have done unthinkingly, and reminds me that all writers, even if they are also editors, have blind spots sometimes. It is also a little nerve-racking, of course – but then many worthwhile things are!” – Sebastian Manley of Manley Editorial.

And another editor colleague, Katharine O’Moore Klopf of KOK Edit, has a similar emotional pathway to mine: “My initial reaction to being edited—and I’ve been an editor since 1984—is ‘Oh, #@&^!’ And then I start reading through the edits and nodding my head, thinking, ‘You know, that’s a good edit. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.’ And by the time I’ve finished reviewing the edits, I’m thinking, ‘Thank goodness for editors!’ You’d think I’d go straight to the ‘thank goodness’ part by now, but there is always that first little shock.”

And what about fiction authors? I suspect that fiction and memoir writers are the ones most wedded to their words, as they are perhaps most personal to them (I might be wrong there, though!).

Steve Hewson, author of “The Wild Earth” writes,”I asked Linda Bates to edit my first novel. Prior to the process starting, I imagined that the it might be more of a grammatical check (necessary because a) I am very (and unavoidably) careless b) I don’t really know anything about grammar. However, it soon became clear that editing was a whole other level of input. Once I’d decided to put in the effort to properly respond to Linda’s editorial suggestions (I was rather busy and somewhat tired of the whole affair prior to giving it to Linda) I found it really challenging and enjoyable.” So there’s the c-word again – “challenging”. Steve has gone on to kindly describe the whole process for us:

“I remember being aghast that the first page (which I thought was pretty good) had loads of changes suggested. (17, after counting them!). Then on the next pages I saw that Linda had added many comments concerning word definitions, writing styles and so on. I was dismayed at the clear time implications of working on these and also thought that Linda might be overdoing the proofreading job. However, I took the plunge and accepted the changes and realised that the result was more streamlined and clean.

Once I had decided to devote my energies to reworking the book I soon got into the stride and began to welcome the editorial changes rather than dread them. I think that being edited is rather similar to being filmed whilst teaching or lecturing: unconscious habits of pen are unearthed in the same way that the camera reveals unconscious habits of speech (such as saying ‘erm’ very frequently). I realised that I made frequent use of double adverbs. It was really very tough (see what I did there …) to realise that this habit made the text less engaging, but was good to realise this.

The sort of comment that I never got used to were those concerning the ways that the characters spoke or behaved. I love my characters and to be told ‘X wouldn’t say that sort of thing’ was always met defensively. I was particularly distressed to be told that I had (at a key moment) unconsciously reinforced gender stereotypes with Gracie. This was a difficult pill to swallow, especially since I had deliberately attempted to eliminate this sort of thing. Still I emerged a better person for it, and Gracie has a little more action at a key part of the book. I’m sure she’d thank me for it …”

Thanks to Steve for that great description of what it feels like to be edited – I’m sure my fellow editors will read it with great interest!

How do we make it right?

So, as editors, how do we make this process as smooth as possible for our clients? I have realised that they will never just grab the new document with joy, making all the changes immediately and unquestioningly. Well, some of them will, but going by the comments I garnered and discussed above, only people I’ve known for years who just have little bits and bobs for me to work on are likely to do that.

As for the rest of them, well, now I have some inkling of how they feel when they receive my annotated manuscript back, I’m going to make these resolutions:

  1. Try to build trust first of all – I already send links to my references, and many of my clients come via recommendation – and I have a new procedure whereby I send the style sheet I’ve put together during the editing process to the author at the end, thus proving I know what I’m doing and there are reasons for my choices.
  2. Remain kind. Sometimes I do get a little exasperated. But I, too, make the same mistakes throughout, repeat myself and am not always consistent. So why should I expect anyone else to be any different?
  3. Understand that when the client asks a question, sometimes they just need reassurance that they’re  not stupid or rubbish at writing. And they are almost never casting doubt on my ability, but either wanting to know why in order to make their writing better, or being anxious generally.
  4. Make sure I praise as well as criticise. I do try to do this already; I will try to do it more, now. Whether they’ve written a great bibliography or coined a smart turn of phrase, even if they’ve just managed to avoid plagiarising or quoting Wikipedia this time round, there’s always something to praise and I must find it and mention it.

—-

Has this article struck a chord? Are you a writer with something to say about your emotional reaction to being edited? Are you an editor who’s found ways to smooth this emotional path? Do share in the comments!

 
34 Comments

Posted by on February 13, 2013 in Copyediting, Errors, Language use, New skills, proofreading, Writing

 

Keeping it formal – your academic writing

31 Oct

I’ve worked with many different academic texts, written by native and non-native speakers alike. Many issues are the same all over the world and crop up in anything from an undergraduate essay to a journal article. One of the major ones is making sure the language and style used is appropriate to the academic environment.

Here are my top tips for keeping your academic writing formal and appropriate.

No contractions

Contractions are not suitable for academic writing. That’s right, don’t do what you wouldn’t see in a textbook.

  • Change don’t to do not
  • Change there’s to there is
  • Change isn’t to is not

The only exception to this (and to all of these rules, actually) is if you’re quoting, either the literature or the direct speech of your interview participants / writing in entries to your questionnaires. Then, go ahead and use what someone else has said (but see the section on tidiness below).

Colloquialisms and slang – not cool, man

It’s very easy to be tempted to write as you speak. This includes those contractions that we’ve just talked about, of course. The classic one I see here is “lots of”; you just need to upgrade that one a little, and the same happens with “really”.

  • Instead of “Lots of researchers say this is wrong”, try “Many researchers say this is wrong”.
  • Instead of “This happened in lots of places”, try “This happened in a large number of cases”
  • Instead of “Interviewee A appeared to be really upset about this”, try “Interviewee A appeared to be very upset about this”

If you’re tempted further into slang, then think twice. Is there a way to make this sound less informal? What word would you use if you were talking in a seminar, or to your grandparents?

There is no place for the exclamation mark!

This one is more about objectivity than anything else. If you’re writing an academic text, you need not to appear partisan (even if you are) and your language needs to be very cool, calm, collected and academically rigorous. An exclamation mark is a surefire way to allow your own personal feelings to creep in.

Contrast these two examples:

  • When they were claiming expenses, senior managers would often claim for an extra meal that they did not order or eat!
  • When they were claiming expenses, senior managers would often claim for an extra meal they did not order or eat.

In the first one, we can’t help reading a value judgement – this is a bad thing, right? Well, it might be, but your job is to report the facts and then draw conclusions from them, backed up with the theory from your literature review.

Me, me, me (I)

It can be quite hard to work your own practice into the text in an appropriately formal way. It’s not usually acceptable to use the word “I” and you will need to find a way to work around this. It’s a good idea to check local practice here – some institutions favour “we”, some go for “the researcher”, and some won’t let anything personal through at all, and you’ll have to do some rather acrobatic writing to twist it all round into the passive tense.

Please note that this one can change depending on the academic discipline within which you’re working, and the agreed common practice of your institution. So check this one with your supervisor or the style guide you may have been given at the start of your course or contract, and adhere to the rules you’re given there above my rules. If you are not given any guidance, then use my suggestions to keep it as formal as possible. It’s worse to be under dressed than to be over dressed!

Here are some examples of the options:

  • I found that not all of the respondents answered every question
  • We found that not all of the respondents answered every question
  • The researcher found that not all of the respondents answered every question
  • It was found that not all of the respondents answered every question
  • Or, keeping it simple: Not all of the respondents answered every question

Eliminate sloppiness

It’s oh-so-easy to let sloppiness and inconsistency creep in, especially when you’re writing a long document with lots of sections. These are a few of the major culprits

  • Not checking the spelling of names in your references. Spell-checker won’t notice this and if you go too far wrong, your proofreader might think you’re talking about two different authors.
  • Not being consistent in your headings styles and numbering (read this article and the ones it’s linked to if you need help setting this up to be automatic)
  • Not being consistent with how you lay out new paragraphs and indented quotations (those big ones that you put in a special paragraph all on their own)
  • Not being consistent with your -ise- and -ize- spellings (organisation vs. organization)
  • Not being consistent with your capitalisation – there are rules for this which I’ll treat on the blog at some stage, but there are often choices to be made, too
  • Not being consistent with hyphenation – similar to capitalisation
  • Using abbreviations without spelling them out the first time

The editor’s solution for this? Use a style sheet. If there’s something you need to use consistently, note down your preferred way of doing it on a separate Word document, and keep it open to refer to as you need.

With abbreviations, note down each one and when you first use it (chapter and section will be enough), Keep this updated if you’re working on the chapters in an unusual order, and make sure the first instance is the one that has the words spelled out.

Keep it tidy

This is related to sloppiness, but a bit more specific. This is all about keeping the document looking nice, so how it looks doesn’t distract from what it says. I find two main culprits here:

  • Putting everything into direct quotations from interview respondents. I often find a quotation like this: “… and um the thing the thing is that, it’s not going to … work … at … all”. A much neater way to put this, which is going to get across the meaning a lot more clearly, would be “And the thing is, that it’s not going to [pause] work at all”.
  • Emphasis overload. If you’re indenting a quotation and putting it in italics, you don’t need to put quotation marks around it, too – it’s pretty obvious that it’s a quotation. If it’s a quotation in the text, just quotation marks, no need for italics except for emphasis. If you’ve got a heading, bold, underline and italics plus a colon at the end might just be too much

As a basic rule, keep it simple, keep it neat and tidy: don’t distract from the reader’s experience of the content of your writing.

Reference, reference, reference

I cover this in detail in another article, but it’s worth reminding you of these rules …

  • If you state an opinion that hasn’t come directly from your brain as an original thought, reference it: “Many people think the sky is green (Jones, 2010; Smith, 2012)”
  • If you talk about something that’s come out of your research, reference it and make sure you label your respondents: “One teacher thought this was rubbish and said so (Interviewee A2)”
  • If you state your own opinion, still back it up: “When reading the responses from the students, it struck the researcher that this needed looking into”; “As we have seen from the teacher respondents, not everyone agreed”. “We found that, contrary to Green (2011) our results suggest pupils do respect their teachers”

——-

I hope you’ve found these pointers useful. If you’re a student or a supervisor and you can suggest any more hints and tips, do please use the comments below to share them! And you might find my other resources for students and resources for Word users helpful – do take a look.

 
10 Comments

Posted by on October 31, 2012 in New skills, proofreading, Students, Word, Writing

 

Tags: , , , ,

What I got up to in April

02 May

Welcome to my April round up of what I’ve been getting up to. Do you find these round-up posts interesting? Would this series be better on my Libro Full-Time Blog? Do leave a comment, click on the share buttons or share my notifications on various social media locations!

Being self-employed full time

I was pretty busy for most of April and had to abandon a few attempts to get to networking events, but I did manage to make it to the Elizabeth Taylor Day in Reading and the BookCrossing meetup in town. I’m also much better at not worrying if it’s a quiet week. If it is quiet, I make sure I get some rest, catch up with my reading or work on my research project, rather than fretting.

Editing, writing, transcribing and proofreading

I’ve been busy with a variety of projects throughout April.

I started off the month finishing a batch of transcriptions for the international organisation I work for regularly. I also helped to recruit a few more transcribers for them, as I’m ideally placed to tell people EXACTLY what it’s like and make sure their expectations are set (“so, you’re going to be typing like a maniac for 8 hours a day, listening to non-native speakers of English talking about international affairs and taking their presentations down in a way that turns them into native English …”)

I did more work with my Master’s students including some pretty intense work to get their essays finished off for the beginning of the summer term, as well as proofreading other essays and dissertations for the student proofreading company I work for. In fact, looking back, it’s been a lot about the students this month!

I didn’t do a lot of writing for clients this month, but I did manage to finish writing my e-book (How I Conquered High Cholesterol) which is now in beta-testing and will shortly be available via Amazon.

I did a fair bit of US to UK English localisation for a couple of my clients, including working on a technical manual for some medical equipment, which was unusual and interesting! I do like the intellectual challenge of working out what “we” would say in a given situation, although I have to go off and refocus my mind when swapping between the two languages!

I’ve helped one regular client start to shape some blog posts into book form by editing them for consistency and taking out all the redundant bits, and I’ll be doing more editing for her in the coming month or so.

I’ve worked with the usual translators, too, of course – most of my clients are ongoing regulars now, which I like a lot!

Blogging and tax

I would be amazed if anyone didn’t know that I’d done my tax return in April (but here’s why, including the full horror of Going On To Payment On Account). Anyway, I know where I stand and what I’ve got to pay in tax this year, that’s all set aside and I’ve given myself the balance, so all set for a slightly less constrained year.

I’ve continued adding to my series of articles about using Word and my series of interviews with fellow small businesses , and I decided to put together a resource guide to the information to be found on my blog for businesses, students and Word users.

I published another five-sentence monthly newsletter – do sign up here for a quick read!

In more sociable news, I helped at the city centre Social Media Surgery session, and attended Social Media Cafe as usual (I wouldn’t miss that for the world). Finally, over on the Libro full-time blog I’ve added a few new resolutions to my list for Home Workers!

Coming up – transcription madness

I’m booked in for more transcription from late May into June, so I’ll turn into a hermit then (but I can’t wait to find out what happens to all the ongoing projects the organisation is working on!). Until then, I’m currently working on a rather technical geology text as well as the usual ongoing student, translator and editing bits and bobs.

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proofreading, transcription, typing and localisation services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 2, 2012 in Blogging, Business, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

New ways to navigate the resources on the Libro blog

27 Apr

I’ve built up loads of information on all sorts of topics on this blog over the past few years, so I thought it was time to put together a resource to help you find what’s most useful for you. I ran a poll, people said yes, so I did it!

I put this new guide together about a week ago, and it’s proved popular so I thought I’d let you know about it quickly.

I’ve put together one simple resource guide with three main sections:

  • Resources for business – these include posts on how to set up a small business, things to do to grow your business, hints on networking, motivation, etc.; then some information about tax and finally an additional link to my small business interviews (note that business formation and tax posts are relevant to the UK although the rest of it will translate anywhere)
  • Resources for students – how to write an essay or dissertation, plagiarism and quoting sources, and lots more to come
  • Resources for Word users – all sorts of tips and hints to make your documents more consistent and easy to write, change and navigate, including tabs, margins, headings, contents pages and more obscure matters like how to put text in alphabetical order. Also includes a few notes on PowerPoint and other applications,

The whole resource guide offers a good way to find out what you need to know – do have a look and a play around, and let me know if you’ve found anything particularly useful!  I’ll be adding both resources and entries to the resource guide as I go along, of course. Watch this space …

And of course, we still have the index to the Troublesome Pairs and index to all the Saturday Small Business Chat posts.

I hope you enjoy the resource guide and indexes, and the resources they guide you to!

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 27, 2012 in Business, Copyediting, Errors, Ethics, New skills, Organisation, proofreading, Short cuts, Small Business Chat, Students, Troublesome pairs, Word, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

What I got up to in March

03 Apr

Welcome to my March round-up of what I’ve been getting up to. Do you find it useful/interesting/inspiring reading these posts about the life of an editor / writer / transcriber / small business person? Do leave a comment, click on the share buttons or share my notifications on various social media locations if you do!

Being self-employed full time

Libro continues to go from strength to strength and I’ve settled into a nice routine of enough work to keep me nicely busy (and to keep the wolf from the door) while having the flexibility to pop to a networking event or just a walk in the park with a friend.

Editing, writing, transcribing, proofreading

So, work-wise I have had a busy and interesting time.

I edited a really interesting set of EU documents for a French company that was new to me, and apart from that it was pretty well all regular customers all month.

I am working with some Master’s students through their courses, giving them feedback about their English and offering ways to improve it, as well as proofreading their essays. This is really rewarding, as I see them taking on board what I suggest and their English improving. It’s also interesting to see how their ideas for their dissertations start to take shape.

I did the usual writing for some commercial clients, including finishing off writing a library of 50 x 500 word articles for one particular client who wanted to build up a library of information on their website that would also boost their SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It’s a challenge to build up that many words on a network of inter-related subjects, including making sure there was room for plenty of linkage to help the visitor navigate through the information on offer, but I enjoyed being able to make it genuinely informative for the reader as well as useful for the client in terms of driving people to their website and keeping them there for as long as possible

I proofread a few PhDs or parts of PhDs, including some really interesting ones in the social sciences. I always tend to learn about what I’m editing, so it’s nice when it’s something I genuinely find interesting (luckily, I can find something of interest in pretty well everything I work on … otherwise I think I would probably be in the wrong job!)

I picked up a new localisation client or two and will be working with at least one of them long term: localisation is a nice intellectual challenge, as it’s not just about turning color into colour but really thinking about how British and American English work and getting right into the guts of the text.

I’ve worked with the usual translators, too, including on some interesting annual reports of companies (yes, I sign a lot of Non Disclosure Agreements) and at the end of the month I went into hermit mode as I had another big project from my main transcription clients, so typing away like a demon with headphones jammed into my ears (and then going to the gym to row out my stiff shoulders) has been the order of the day.

Networking, videos, blogging

In non-billable hours news, I featured in this video by Enterprise Nation extolling the virtues of networking and, in particular, the Twitter event #watercoolermoment, which is a gathering of home workers at 11 am on weekdays to have a chat about this and that – just like you might do in a “real” office. I also redesigned this website and blog – I really love the new look, what do you think?’

I’ve added some new posts to my series of articles about using Word, which are hopefully useful to students, writers and administrators alike, and my series of interviews with fellow small businesses is building nicely – there’s space in May if you’d like to take part!

Oh, and for a while now, my monthly newsletter has been only five sentences long so do sign up here for a quick read!

In more sociable news, I helped at the city centre and local Social Media Surgery sessions, and attended Social Media Cafe as usual (I wouldn’t miss that for the world). My local “notworking” group Kings Heath Home Workers group has a few more members and I’ve been meeting up in a cafe with a local friend once a week. I have also resolved some pressing issues around time management which I’ve talked about over on the Libro full-time blog.

Coming up – taxes and a new financial year

It’s the end of the financial year this week, and the end of mine, too. I am looking forward to getting my tax return done so I know how much of my earnings I can keep and how much is going to the taxman – although this year I will start Paying On Account, so will have to give him a lot more than usual – in fact double! Watch this space for a great guest post explaining all that later on this week. I have more transcription to do, more students to work with, more of the same – and I bet I love it as much as I did this month!

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proofreading, transcription, typing and localisation services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
2 Comments

Posted by on April 3, 2012 in Blogging, Business, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Competition results!

07 Mar

Prize!

Here are the answers to the competition I set a month ago

Text 1

you shoul’dnt have gon eto the pub last night, it was a misstake,” She said, “how did i nkow that!’ said him.

14 mistakes:

you shoul’dnt have gon eto the pub last night, it was a misstake,” She said, “how did i nkow that!’ said him.

1 – quote marks at beginning
2 – capital on You
3 – apostrophe mis-placed in shouldn’t
4 – gap mis-placed in gon eto (could be counted as 2 too)
5 – comma after night should have been a semi colon
6 – misstake spelling mistake
7 – She after quote should be she
8 – starting a new quote should start a new sentence, so a full stop after said …
9 – … and a capital for how
10 – capital I
11 – nkow spelling mistake
12 – exclamation mark should be a question mark
13 – single quote mark should be a double to match the others
14 – said he

“You shouldn’t have gone to the pub last night: it was a mistake,” she said. “How did I know that?” said he.

Text 2

We need to concern about the incidences of bad spellling in the document and how they can be made made better. It influences on perception of the text in readers. However it makes it harder to understand. Because clearity is the main aim of all writing unless its v creation.

This is how I would rewrite it:

We need to be concerned about the incidences of bad spelling in the document and how they can be made better. It influences the readers’ perception of the text. Moreover, it makes it harder to understand, because clarity is the main aim of all writing, unless it is very creative.

And the winner is …

Michelle Austin! Michelle got the correct combination of number of errors and a close but clear re-write of the text, including the bit about creativity. Well done, Michelle – your exciting parcel of Libro goodies will be on its way to you soon!

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 7, 2012 in Copyediting, proofreading, Writing

 

Tags:

What I got up to in February

07 Mar

Yes, it’s that time again when you get to find out what a busy self-employed editor/writer/transcriber gets up to. I’ll carry on writing these while people carry on letting me know they enjoy them!

I’ve had another amazing month in February. I can’t really believe it’s going so well – I have described it as like that expanding foam you put into a space in your house – pff and it’s filled up the space allowed!  My new blog has been useful as an outlet through which to express myself from time to time! So, here’s a snapshot of what I got up to …

The first part of the month was heavily devoted to transcription – the client I worked for just before Christmas came back to me with another international conference to transcribe. My experience with minuting meetings and with non-native speakers of English really helped here, as I was typing out presentations and discussions by people from all around the world. Fun and interesting work, I got to share the work with some colleagues by recommending them to the client, but, my goodness, I typed a lot – I transcribed over 20 hours of conference (remembering that each hour of speech takes several hours to transcribe) and actually wore the letters off some of the keys on my computer keyboard! I put into practice the lessons I learned about avoiding RSI from the last lot, took lots of breaks, went to the gym every day for some heavy sessions on the rowing machine, and got through it fine. I like this client a lot, too, because they always come back to me quickly if I have a query.

I also did more transcription for two other regulars; a writer teaching people about marketing and a journalist interviewing musicians. Those ones were in British English and also interesting to do.

And I did do other things, too (somehow),  writing a library of 42 short articles for one regular client, articles on medical subjects for another, and putting together marketing letters/emails and web text for another.

I edited some texts that had been translated from Polish, Finnish, Dutch and Chinese, and ones written by people with French as their first language.  I edited the Moseley B13 magazine again – I do that for free and enjoy it greatly, finding out what’s going on in my local area and using my powers for good at the same time. I also did a bit of localisation for US and other clients.

There was some of the usual academic work – bits of theses, dissertations and articles. I had some more short essays from my coaching clients, who are all progressing through their Master’s courses nicely – it’s great to see their English improving as they take on board my suggestions and tips.

So a nice busy time of it! In other news, I got back into my giving back and networking, helping at a one-off local Social Media Surgery session, and attending Social Media Cafe as usual (I wouldn’t miss that for the world) although I missed the Central SMS owing to a clash with another meeting. In response to my need to have people to talk to now and then, and after testing the waters, I’ve established a Kings Heath Home Workers group on Facebook and blogged about it.

Coming up – I have some academic work booked in and I’ll be doing more transcribing towards the end of the month. I am hoping to get some time to work on my research project, as I’ll be presenting on my research at the Iris Murdoch Society Conference in September. I’ll be going to Jelly co-working session this Friday – now I’ve been to one and know how they work, I’ll be taking along some draft blog posts to write up.  I ran a competition in my newsletter last month and I’ll be announcing the winner later on today or tomorrow – if you would like to receive a short summary of Libro goings-on and interesting facts and links, do sign up here!

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proofreading, transcription, typing and localisation services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
4 Comments

Posted by on March 7, 2012 in Blogging, Business, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Competition time

01 Feb

This competition closed in February 2012 so no further entries are being accepted!

It’s competition time! This is aimed at giving you a taste of what I do all day (in one of the areas in which I work). I’m going to give you two texts. Text 1 has a certain number of mistakes. Tell me how many on the form below! Text 2 needs to be helped to make sense. If you want to, write a new version in the form below.

Text 1

you shoul’dnt have gon eto the pub last night, it was a misstake,” She said, “how did i nkow that!’ said him.

Text 2

We need to concern about the incidences of bad spellling in the document and how they can be made made better. It influences on perception of the text in readers. However it makes it harder to understand. Because clearity is the main aim of all writing unless its v creation.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨






I will accept entries up until midnight in the UK on 10 February 2012. Winners will be decided by a panel of two and the prize is a Libro post-it note pad and notepad!

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on February 1, 2012 in Celebration, Copyediting, proofreading, Writing

 

Tags:

What I got up to in January

01 Feb

I’ve had a fantastic first month of being fully self-employed – I can’t really believe how well it’s gone. I wrote about goals last week, and I’m happy to say that I hit all my goals for January, including the hardest one. This is marvellous reassurance that I can do this and make a living out of it: I was expecting January to be a bit slow, and the Jury Service (that wasn’t – they didn’t call me up for any cases and I only ended up being there for four half-days) did knock out a bit of my first week, but I took the opportunity to have a bit of rest and relaxation that I’d missed out on over my very busy Christmas! More about how it’s all going in a more personal sense over on my new blog; I’ve been hugely enjoying writing that!

So, I’ve had a good mix of my usual tasks this past month:

I’ve proofread varying pieces of academic work for the student proofreading company I do work for, Master’s course work for a few students, three of whom have signed up to be coached through their course (I provide more detailed information on their particular issues with their written English and help them develop their writing while they’re learning about their subject – I also charge for this monthly or termly so they don’t end up paying lots of little invoices) and had one mammoth session on a PhD which had got delayed by the student’s tutor (I was glad not to have to go to the day job the morning after that 11-hour day!).

I’ve copyedited documents, magazine issues and articles for my regular clients, and checked the English for my Polish, Finnish and other European translator clients. I’ve checked over the articles and proofs for Moseley B13 Magazine (I do that for free).

I’ve transcribed two webinars for my author/entrepreneur client and also edited a downloadable guide to self-publishing for her (I’ll link to that when it’s out, for all you authors out there).

I’ve localised a whole load of email text for a new American client, using software called Across, which is mainly used by translators: I’m pleased to have got to grips with this as I think it will widen the range of clients I can work with.

And I’ve written lots of little bits of marketing material for a client who’s offering my services to their small business clients, as well as a series of blog posts about dentistry and most of the new web content for my retail shelving client, working with their SEO person to make sure the text and metadata both drive click-throughs to their site (it’s working well so far!)

So a nice busy time of it! In other news, I had a guest blog post published and was quoted in an article about the rise in numbers of self-employed people.  I got back into my giving back and networking, helping at a Social Media Surgery session (find out more via this article I wrote about it), and attending Social Media Cafe (where I wore a brooch made by fellow small business, Good Girl Designs and insisted on having a photo taken) and my first Jelly co-working session.  I’ve helped two friends set up WordPress blogs (Amy’s music blog and Ali’s book reviews blog).

Coming up: I’ve got returning clients and regular clients to look after, and I have another big transcription job coming up, similar to the one I did at Christmas. I’m pleased to say that I’ve got more time for reading and seeing my friends now I’m full time, which is what I had hoped for. I’m going on a half-day course on email and social media marketing, and I’m planning a slightly different kind of newsletter this month – including exclusive access to a fun competition and a new format for the newsletter itself – do sign up here to get a look at that when it comes out!

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proofreading, transcription, typing and localisation services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
1 Comment

Posted by on February 1, 2012 in Blogging, Business, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

What I got up to in December

04 Jan

In my previous years of Libro work, December has been really quiet, as people seemed to feel they needed to leave me alone for Christmas. This was usually a bit frustrating, as the University where I worked gave us a lot of time off over Christmas and I was raring to get on with stuff with nothing to get on with. This year, I knew I had Jury Service starting in early January, so I thought I’d be able to take advantage of the downtime to get a bit of rest, get some work done on my Iris Murdoch project and pre-write all the blog posts I needed to cover the time I’d be out of the office.

It didn’t quite work out like that! I’d have been even busier than this if two big writing projects hadn’t slipped back (through no fault of my own, just circumstances). I had Christmas Day off, but apart from that I worked pretty solidly. As we all know by now, I left my library job on 12 December, and I actually corresponded with a potential client the evening of my leaving do – I must have done a decent job with the good old Blackberry, as I ended up booking in the work for that week! I then went on to a mixture of pre-booked and just-in-time work for various clients, old and new …

Edited some articles for a local academic who’s a non-native speaker, including putting the documents and bibliographies into the specific format demanded by the publications for which they were written. Also edited English translations for two agencies, one in China and one in Poland, and did the usual checking for my long-term translator client and my French HR consultant who’s writing a series of blog posts.

I transcribed quite a lot this month: a long webinar for my novelist client (more of her later) and I had a large project for an agency, transcribing presentations given at an international conference by non-native speakers of English (on the whole: things got a bit faster when I got the odd British or American presenter, but it was all interesting!).

I wrote some web text and a downloadable “dos and don’ts” piece for my retail shelving client and had a chat on the phone with their new SEO people as I’ll be writing more web content for them in the New Year.

I proofread a PhD thesis and several essays and dissertations, both for my direct clients and the ones I work for via a larger student proofreading company.  I’ve got a couple of coaching clients booked in – I proofread their work but also make suggestions on how they can improve their written English, write out lists of common mistakes they make, etc., throughout their course.

Of course, that’s what we call proofreading, but isn’t really – I did also do a proper proofread on a long sectionof a big document outlining responsibilities and guidelines for the updated manual of a professional body, comparing the new version with the older one to make sure they matched but any dates were changed appropriately.

And I did a final line-edit on a novel by a successful self-published author. I had to read the first novel in the series so I could check for continuity, noticed the odd issue in that one and ended up doing an edit on that book, too, so I spent much of Christmas Eve and Boxing Day concentrating on fast-paced religious thrillers set in various catacombs and other exciting places – not traditional Christmas fare, maybe, but very interesting!

I did manage to work half days in the week between Christmas and New Year, more or less, with just some student work to get on with. And my lovely regular clients are all aware of the Jury Service and keeping things as light as possible for these two weeks.

In the end, December was a very busy and successful month, which encouraged me to think that yes, it was a good idea to leave the Library after all! I had my best month yet for income, which meant I nearly met the biggest of my three targets for the calendar year – so I set some ambitious ones for this year, too.

Things were a bit quiet on the networking front, it being the festive season, but I did have time for some socialising, and I also started my new blog, which is going to chart my experience as I take Libro full-time.

Libro offers copyediting, copy writing, proofreading, transcription, typing and localisation services to other small businesses, individuals and corporations. Click on the links to find out more!

 
1 Comment

Posted by on January 4, 2012 in Business, Celebration, Copyediting, Jobs, proofreading, Transcription, What Do I Do?, Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →