Do you know the difference between a “fiancée” and a “fiancé”? As an editor I’m always learning new things. For instance, did you know that a “fiancée” is a woman engaged to be married, whereas a “fiancé” is a man engaged to be married? According to Merriam-Webster these two words are pronounced the same way, […]
Fiancée or Fiancé? Read More »
As the year approaches its end, I find myself looking back on all the projects I’ve worked on in the past twelve months, and I want to send out a quick thank-you to those I’ve worked with. If you’re a client who has hired me to edit your book this year, thank you. If you’re
One of the first things I check when receiving a manuscript is my client’s use of dashes. Here are the three I look at. 1. Hyphens. The simplest dash, usually used in compound words such as “self-sustaining.” If my client wants me to follow CMOS guidelines (most do), I consult those tables at the end
Last year I had the honor of proofreading “The Host” by the wonderfully talented T. C. Westminster, and it’s finally coming out on December 9th! “The Host” is a carefully crafted psychological thriller that has stuck with me ever since working on the story, and I’m so thrilled that it’s finally being put out into
I read eight books for fun this year, which isn’t bad considering I edit books for a living and I tend to gravitate toward video games in my spare time between editing projects. I thought it would be fun to share this list of personal reads, so if you’d like a chance to get to
My Year in Reading Read More »
One of the most common mistakes I come across while editing is incorrect dialogue tags. Remember that in order for something to be correctly considered a dialogue tag, it should be about the mechanics of speaking, not what the speaker is doing. Here’s an example: Incorrect: “Catch me if you can,” he smiled. Correct: “Catch
It’s the last day of NaNoWriMo, and I hope everyone participating found the month to be productive. If anyone is looking for an editor, I’m a copyeditor and proofreader working primarily in fiction. My current rates are $.013 USD per word for copyediting and $.01 USD per word for proofreading. I offer a free sample
That’s a Wrap for NaNoWriMo 2023 Read More »
I love music. I’m especially fond of early-2000s emo, as that was some of the first music I discovered on my own and felt a connection to. Despite knowing so many of these songs by heart, I actually don’t like looking up lyrics to most of my favorite songs. To me, there’s something magical about
I won’t say the name of the book, but I’ve been reading a very highly regarded sci-fi novel and was struck by how it handles unspoken discourse. No quotation marks, no italics. For those unaware, CMOS defines unspoken discourse as thoughts, imagined dialogue, and other internal discourse (that isn’t actually spoken out loud by a
Unspoken Discourse Read More »
It is common for people to wonder about their purpose in life. The Japanese have a concept called ikigai, which refers to this very idea. They believe you can begin to understand your ikigai by answering four questions: What is your passion? What are you good at? What does the world need from you? What