More Blog Posts
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - 5:20am
Erin Brenner
0
Featured Topic: Word Choice
Precision in word choice makes all the difference in understanding, Rich Adin points out on An American Editor. How should we use blame, and what business jargon should be the first to go?
- “On Words: Why Sense Matters”: When a word has more than one meaning, context matters. (An American Editor)
- “Blame Excuses”: Is it blame for or blame on? (Language Corner)
- “Words to Avoid in Business Writing”: When you need to banish business jargon from a manuscript, start with these words. (Blog Excerpts)...
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - 2:28pm
Dawn McIlvain Stahl
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Although there’s no lack of wittering that occurs in the United States and elsewhere, witter and wittering (both usually followed by on) are chiefly used in the UK and require little to no wit.
To witter on is to
- talk a lot about boring or silly things (Macmillan Dictionary)
- speak at length about trivial matters (Oxford Dictionaries)
- chatter or babble pointlessly or at unnecessary length (Collins Concise English Dictionary)
- talk for a long...
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - 9:00am
Erin Brenner
0
Louise Harnby is a successful UK proofreader who knows what it takes to succeed in the freelance world. Harnby runs Louise Harnby | Proofreader and publishes The Proofreader’s Parlour, which I’ve linked to in the daily News Roundup posts. Her new book, Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers: A Guide for New Starters, is a practical guide for creating a plan for your business and getting started.
It’s not enough to just decide you’ll freelance. A business plan forces you to decide what service you will offer and who you’ll offer them to. “Any editorial freelancer who made a success of their business without some sort of...
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - 5:20am
Erin Brenner
1
Featured Topic: The Publishing Business
While we copyeditors often focus on abstracts, we must remember that publishing is a business and that concrete things, like profits, matter.
- “The Dictionary of American Regional English Needs Help”: We will lose a great resource if something isn’t done. (You Don’t Say)
- “The Business of Editing: Expectations”: Whether your clients are in-house or external, you need to balance their needs against the parameters set. (An American Editor)
- “Journalism Orgs Launch Free Ebook for Preventing, Detecting and Handling Plagiarism and...
Monday, April 8, 2013 - 8:45am
Andrea Altenburg
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I am sure everyone is aware that Microsoft Windows comes with a Paint program. Up until now, I only used it to screen capture and crop for any of my various technical writing projects. As a tool that comes free, there are many things that can be done using the tools available to you. Here is a quick rundown of just some of them.
Make Your Own Brush
- Select the pencil tool and draw a small brush.
- Turn transparency on and select the image.
- While holding shift, drag the image around.
Scale an Image
- Paste the image into Paint.
- Press Control and plus (+) or minus (-) on the number pad to make it larger or smaller.
Fill Color Using the Eraser Tool
- Use the color picker to select the color you...
Monday, April 8, 2013 - 6:00am
Andrea Altenburg
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Remembering Roger Ebert in today’s news roundup.
Top Pick
Roger Ebert’s Lexicon: Fruit Carts, idiot Plots and Wunza movies (Visual Thesaurus)
More Great Articles
Justica Más accessible (Economist)
Reason #357 I’m Self-Employed (Editor Mom)
Small Business Chat with James Burton (Libro Editing)
http://allfreelancewriting.com/writing-for-...
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Friday, April 5, 2013 - 11:45am
Andrea Altenburg
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Here is another Friday Funday Sudoku style. Spring has finally appeared and it is time to get ourselves adjusted to the sunshine by taking our laptops outside to enjoy the wonderful weather. For those of us in Ohio, this nice weather is a rare occurrence.
Every row, column, and 3x3 box must contain the following letters exactly once:
Updated to correct a typo that made the puzzle much harder than we intended. We regret the error!
Answers to the Irish Slang Matching Game
1) afters:...
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Friday, April 5, 2013 - 8:45am
Andrea Altenburg
0
Goodreads is a social website to allow reads to submit book recommendations and share in books they love. Goodreads has been around since 2007 and is a community setting to discuss books as well as track books you have read in a type of virtual library.
Amazon announced in a press release last week they obtained the Goodreads social network site. Russ Grandinetti, vice president for Amazon states:
“Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading. Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon...
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Friday, April 5, 2013 - 6:00am
Andrea Altenburg
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Are you a tool savvy writer? 4 Tools for freelancers and more in today’s news roundup.
Top Pick
4 Tools for Freelance Writers (You Might Not Have Heard Of) (All Freelance Writing)
More Great Articles
When to Include the Year in Citations Appearing More Than Once in a Paragraph (APA Style)
How to Convert Newsletter Subscribers into Paying Clients (Freelance Switch)
...
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Thursday, April 4, 2013 - 12:25pm
Andrea Altenburg
0
Sarah Price has been a freelance copyeditor and proofreader since 2002, after more than 20 years in the IT industry as a technical editor, writer, and project manager. She is also a tutor for the UK Society for Editors and Proofreaders, teaching courses on proofreading and grammar. Be sure to check out her proofing audio conference on April 11, 2013.
How did you get into editing and proofreading?
I have been an editorial professional for around 30 years. I started out working for an engineering firm that did a lot of highly confidential work for the UK Ministry of Defence and had an in-house publications group covering all aspects...
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Writing a Mac interface means learning a very different set of coding routines and protocols. We spent a year, awhile back, with a 3-foot shelf of
