Why I Love Editing, Proofreading and Other Dull Subjects

Oh, oh, oh! Visitors and subscribers to this blog absolutely must see this video. Once viewed, you will decide to learn more about editing on your own, rely less on your spell checker and editors (though, of course, you'll still want to get the best editors for your work. Ahem!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonDPGwAyfQ&feature=player_embedded

Thanks to my Facebook and writing friend Bonnie Parmenter for finding this for me!
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults. and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (How To Do It Frugally series of book for writers). Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/writers_books.htm , where writers will find lists and other helps including Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog. She tweets writers' resources at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo . Please tweet this post to your followers. We all need a little help with editing. (-:

Marilyn vos Savant on Editing? Kid You Not!

Do you read Ask Marilyn in the Parade magazine enclosed in many Sunday newspapers? I like reading it for her brain teasers but every once in a while, I find something in it that pertains to editing. Marilyn has an eclectic heart!

This week someone asked why "playwright" is spelled with a "w" when the "copyright" isn't. I rarely see writers get this wrong--possibly because it is one of those mistakes Spell Checker will pick up and actually get right! But Marilyn's answer was so lucid. She says, "I'm sure you've heard the adjective and verb "wrought," referring to work shaped by intellect, artistry, effort, etc." The maker (the craftsperson) of such projects is called a "wright."

The "right" in "copyright" comes from the "right to copy," she says. It may be obvious, but thinking of "wright" and "right" this way, helps us keep them separate in our brains. We won't be as likely to just type the word wrong. Ya think?

If you love word trippers and and like avoiding editing nightmares like the confusion between "metal" and "medal" I recently saw in a novel, you may find my little $6.95 booklet fun reading. Or fun gift-giving.  It is Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers: The Ultimate Frugal Booklet for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults. and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (How To Do It Frugally series of book for writers). Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/writers_books.htm , where writers will find lists and other helps including Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog. She tweets writers' resources at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo . Please tweet this post to your followers. We all need a little help with editing. (-:

Essential for Every Writer: Credible, Easy Resource for Style, Preferred Spellings, and More

OMG, I love this site. Everyone should keep make it a favorite on their e-mail programs. http://creativeservices.iu.edu/resources/guide/spelling.shtml Trust me you'll refer to it thousands of times per year if you care at all about style choices, preferred spellings and the like. Couple it with The Frugal Editor and you've got your essential library handy. You can rely on it to give you the most traditional, credible choices possible to get your queries and manuscripts past the gatekeepers. Need I say more?


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.
And please tweet to your followers. We all need a little help with editing. (-:

"Everyday" or "Every day": That Is the Question

Argggh!

Can't help myself but add a one-item tip. That's because I keep seeing this error even in important documents being sent to gatekeepers who can make or break a career--the major theme behind my book The Frugal Editor, by the way. That is, use zero-tolerance editing for the stuff that goes to gatekeepers. So here it is:

EVERYDAY OR EVERY DAY

Most dictionaries say this is a one-word adjective. When used as an adjective spell it "everyday." Example: "The store offers everyday values."

But when it is an adverb, it's two words. Here's an example. "He offers a new deal in his store every day."

Its use as two words is even clearer when it's used as a noun. It's also less likely to cause a disagreement (-: or confusion when it's a noun. Here's an example: "Every day is a beautiful day."

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Spelling Confidence Deflators: June Casagrande, Spell Checker and Art Teachers

A few weeks ago I was inspired by June Casagrande's column, A Word Please. It appears in the Glendale News-Press, an affliate of the LA Times) weekly. I often clip her columns to read later or to follow up on her inspiration--later, of course.

This particular column I clipped was on spelling. You know, stuff like spelling bees and how brilliant kids can humiliate adults in certain arenas. On how Brits spell differently from Americans. That reminded me of how us Americans nurtured on British literature so many problems. I still can't get "grey" right.

But it also reminded me of what a great speller I am. Or thought I was. As a child I was pretty darn good at those spelling bees myself. Got straight As in English and on and on. Then, one day I spelled a word wrong--in an art class of all places! My teacher asked me to look at the word. Nothing but "Duhhh."

Then he asked some of my classmates to look at the word. I can't even tell you what the word was. Maybe something like "definitely" because it had something to do with an "i" and "a." None of my classmates had a clue either. So the teacher says--or rather rants, "See, see? That's why we have dictionaries!"

Suddenly my confidence went down the proverbial drain. In this case the drain of spelling awareness. He made me nervous. Now, even when I know I'm right, I fear I'm not. Do I remember the "before" when I spelled a word wrong, or the "after" when I had checked to see if I had it right. Were they the same when I checked? Different? So I have to go back to the dictionary again. Geesht. Such a waste of time and brain power.

One of those before and after words for me is "recommendation." Two "c's" and two "m's" or only one "c" and... Well, you get the idea. There are times that Word's spell checker is a Godsend. I have it on autopilot. It doesn't even tell me when I spell "recommendation" wrong. It just corrects it. Which is probably one of the reasons that I can't remember. Someone/thing is doing my work for me.

So today's editing tip? Straight from The Frugal Editor (www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor: Spell checkers can be very good aids. But we can't depend on them. Add to that, they may do their job too well.


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

An Editor? Who Needs One of Those!

I've heard about every excuse there is for not hiring an editor. Here are some of those arguments. Is your excuse among them?

I don't need to worry about an editor. My book will be tradtionally published.
• You can't rely on the editor provided by your publisher--any publisher. I've seen even the biggest publisher let boo-boos in books slip through. And many small publishers hire inexperienced typo hunters, not real editors.


I'm hiring an experience editor. I'm letting her do the work. That's what I'm paying her for.
• You can't rely on even the best editor you hire. You need to be a partner with your editor. If you know little or nothing about the process, how can you know what to accept or what to reject? When you're sure you want to break a rule and when you want to consider what he or she is telling you, even if it goes against your pattern or makes you uncomfortable? "Partner" is the key word here. You want to be able to do that even if you're publishing with Harper's and your editor turns out to be a channeled Jacqueline Kennedy. (-:

I'm just publishing POD for my family.
• No matter how you publish, you need an editor before you go to press. Regardless of how you are publishing or what you call the process. (By the way, many terms used for publishing these days have become almost unintelligible because so many are using them incorrectly. That adds confusion to an already confusing process!) That book you're publishing "just for your family" will probably be seen by your great, great, great grandchildren.

I know I should have an editor but I keep procrastinating...
The Frugal Editor gives you guidelines for the way to find a good editor. Those guidelines are there for people who have the best intentions and just don't get around to it. It's there for all of us who tend to put off this process. We tend to make a thousand excuses to ourselves for not doing it. Well, OK. I know I made excuse or at least one excuse. (-: My excuse was, I AM an editor! Ahem!

I've already been over this book 15 times. If there is an error in it, I'll eat my hat!
• One pair of eyes is never as good as two different pairs of eyes. Two pairs of eyes on people who got As in English or teach English are never as good as one pair of eyes on an editor with years of publishing experience.

I've had lots of people read my book to help clear it of errors. Even my husband who is an engineer and catches every misplace comma!
• People who are good grammarians or good typo hunters aren't necessarily good editors.

I had my college English teacher check my book. If she can't do it, no one can.
• Good editors will be good grammarians, spellers and typo hunters but they bring a whole lot more to the table. Most teachers have had no publishing experience at all. Thus, they won't know much if anything about frontmatter, backmatter, your table of contents, your index and on an on. So start saving your pennies for a good editor and in the meantime, read up on the process for yourself.

If you don't see your own argument, please add it to the comments. This might be fun! (-:


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits and consults on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success on Amazon. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

Peer, Schmeer. The Gremlins Will Get You One Time Or Another

This week I hope to start a conversation on how easy it is to make a mistake you don't see in your own material -- even if you are a great editor of others' material. It includes a word that is sometimes confused, though most people certainly do know the difference between the spelling of the two. It's just that those gremlins that The Frugal Editor is making famous get at us. Maybe we're typing too fast or maybe our brains are in another zone or... but the gremlins will get us--both you and me.

I try to take a poetry class once a year. (Because I'm an instructor, UCLA Extension Writers' Program gives me one class a year at no charge. It's one of the perks they offer and a great way for them to be sure that their instructors continue to get educated -- and at least one of us (me) need it. I especially like the poetry classes taught by Suzanne Lummis.

But I digress. So I finished the first draft of my poem. Checked it (well, OK, checked it perfunctorily). Typed up copies so everyone in class would have a critique copy. Stuck the copies into my tote marked "Poetry," and took off for class. Couldn't be late!

When it was my turn to share my poem for critique, I passed out the copies and began to read. There (in the title!) was the word "peer." I meant "pier."

"Oh, gawd," I said. "Make that "pier, p-i-e-r."

And here is the most important part. Everyone just nodded and chortled. It can happen to anyone. It can happen to editors, to teachers, to university instructors, to plain-old-everyday writers. The gremlins can hit at any time for any reason.

I thought maybe you'd like to see the poem. Here it is (with the spelling right!):

Death by Ferris Wheel at Santa Monica Pier

From her seat in the gondola. A woman
who might be me, watches roller

bladers with supple bones and toddlers with careless
balloons Far, far down on the pier. She opens

the doors -- mini saloon doors of purple -- or
she crawls over acrylic barriers. Either way

she hesitates a moment. The lurch
of the wheel as it stops at the top finishes

the job. No scream. Even the plane floating
a campaign trail of plastic behind it, silent. Soundless

waves, too, that far up. She floats as if posing
for her close-up, delicate fingers, poised toes,

her red sunhat a Frisbee against
sky of pulled taffy clouds on blue.

Sea like scallops of Alençon lace below,
sand stretched away toward the Palisades,

the smell of sugary churros her last sensation.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson

By the way. I didn't flunk. (-:

The lesson here, Aesop fashion, is that because the gremlins are always at work, people will make mistakes. It will happen to you and it will happen to me. Best not get critical and point fingers. Your day is nigh!


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits and consults on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success on Amazon. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.