2021, in part.

 I may run late, but I do plan to do an overview on 2021.  

For a brief recap of the past six months, I finally had knee surgery for my right knee, which had two tears in the meniscus. I'm just over two months out from that, and although walking is far, far better now -- stairs, not so much.  

Doing stairs is weirdly random too; I've managed to go into the basement a few times, but other days, my knee[s] will freak out.  Definitely will need to see physical therapists for that next month.

Almost to 2022!

 What a year it's been. I kept hoping I joked when I'd say, "Year Two of the pandemic" while I feared I was not joking. And sure enough, it was not a joke, just a faint hope, swiftly disproved. 

WFC, DAW, credit...

Last week DAW Books added me to their freelance pool.

(Yes, you're quite right, there are millions of exclamation points ellided there.)

I have an editor credit on Amazon.  David Tallerman cowrote a YA novel with Michael Wills, which I copyedited -- and Mike kindly listed me in the credits.  No one's done that before to my knowledge.

Frankly, I'm gobsmacked!

DAW, Dave, and Mike are some of my most favorite gentlebeings in the universe right now.  8)

November 2015: links.

Business Musings: Getting in Touch:  Kris Rusch points out that if someone cannot reach you, then they may not be able to [a] pay you [b] offer you money for something you've already done [c] just discuss a business deal or even meet you.

And if it's your high school pal, your editor, your agent, your fan, a future business partner, or any combination of those... then you failed.  

It's even worse if you happen to be an author whose assistant decides to "help" by denying you those messages.

Consider the folks who want to give you an award, one that you'd love to have -- the Newbery or the Hugo.  Do you really want to be That Author, the one no one can reach for anything?  Really??

Keep in mind that "pay you" part.  That isn't the be-all and end-all of having email where you can be reached by certain people.

It's pretty damned important, however.


I should point out that when I was Steve Brust's p.a., I didn't block people.  He read his own fan mail.  People mostly contacted me about conventions.  Some of Steve's editors did write me, and often I took care of things with his agents, but only certain things.

BTW, Kris's post has made me realize I need a Comment Form of my own.  Expect one to show up sometime in the near future.

Editing costs.

It's interesting how people vary from the "But -- this just takes you reading it, right?" to the "I want you to catch all the things in my writing!" mindsets.  With, of course, variations all along the range there.

This includes editors too.  I have had editors who thought I just took a few moments to copyedit, that it wasn't a process that involved much time at all.

Coolness, NYCC, publishing numbers: also cake.

Jim Hines on Cool Kids in sf/f.  Fascinating.

Kameron Hurley gives us the Cold Publishing Equations: Books Sold + Marketability + Love.  This is important, new writers!  READ HER EQUATIONS.  They will help you.

Really, grasshopper, I joke not.

And yes, this includes anyone who feels that self-publishing makes it All Different.  It really does not, not if you didn't do all the things professionally and did not happen to know how to do them either.  This is no judgment:  everyone learns.

Car news: good!

Good news from the body shop on my car!  When I spoke to a gentleman there Monday, he said the repair estimate was a few dollars shy of $1700.00.

This is great as I have owned my poor abus'd PT Cruiser not even a whole month.  Having the repairs be considerably less than its list price of $2995, huzzah.  FYI:  its low miles make my car worth rather more than that.  8)

Keep your fingers crossed, I pray you!

FYI: early rate change.

Normally I wait until September to post a rate change.  Not for 2015.

(If you're curious as to why, read my About me/rates page.)

This year I'll begin my eighth year as a freelance editor.  Thus I'm announcing a rate change for new clients, starting as of 27-July-2015.  Any current negotiations are not affected.

Words, books, learning.

Jackdaw and the Randoms:  my latest project.  Completed project, that is.

If you're a reader of YA, and/or you like scoundrels, you'll like Jackdaw.  He is who Douglas Richardson (of BBC Cabin Pressure) aspires to be.  No, really.


I was added as an approved freelancer for Tor.com and the Macmillan freelancer pool this month June.  I am working on my first Tor.com novella now.  David Tallerman's Patchwerk.

The rest of my life--

"Let me sum up.

"No, that will take too long."


A short recap of my life lately:

I went to Penguicon and came back with a new boyfriend.

Then I turned in a deadline the following weekend for a new client.

Those are part of why I lagged in Twitter, email, and blogging.  (But wait! there's MORE.)

September 2014 update.

Almost every year I write a post about September being my anniversary month... and this marks the seventh year of my freelancing as a copy editor.  How's that?

Working from home limits your in-person social interactions -- no workplace with people you see every day -- and that lack has affected me whenever I was depressive.  Like now.

I need to make various changes so my career and my business both continue successfully.  And I want to be healthy.  I don't want depression or anything else to bog me down.


You can tell a bit about my life and my health by my blogging.  That goes up and down -- sometimes because I'm busy, sure.  In September 2013 I wasn't depressive.  I was motivated and that's part of why so many posts happened.

Normally I'm extremely motivated (Kevin Maroney once said I was "made of energy") so this has been a major problem during 2014.

You need motivation to do simple everyday things, but also for complex tasks like running a business.

Freelance tips: many.

I found these via an artist on tumblr.  I'm sharing them here because freelancers need freelance info.

The Other Side of Freelancing -- this is by an artist, so not all of it is applicable to me.  But Parts 2 through 4 do pertain to my work and to any freelancer's work.

Do attend, I pray you!

Language and writing...

Definitions:  No problem -- an idiom -- and tits up, which in this context was an anachronism.

Meta Monday: Smallclothes.  Which the writer brought up because of history, and yes, GRRM.  Heh.

Recognizing Adjectives (a quiz).

Many helpful links via Ann Leckie, such as how not to cut adjectives and the evils of passive voice.

Framing Devices and Nested Narratives at Tor.com.

Paranoia when working...

In 2010 I was in the middle of editing a book... and my old desktop PC died.  From malware attacks.

It had survived many moves with me.  [Don't ask how many.]  We'd gone to live in Vegas, my old PC and I, then moved back across country to Michigan.


So today I've done some more research on my current tech problems.  On my new Acer desktop, which I bought in 2010.

I thought this was malware.  Nope; yay!

It may be the hard drive.  Not yay.  Not at all.

OTOH, my marvelous tech adviser at Chicon 7 -- hi, CKD! -- gave me lots of wonderful advice.  One was to get regular backups scheduled to an external hard drive.  I did these things.

This is far better than saving to a flash drive and having to readjust back and forth.  Computers get tetchy about that.

Business Rusch: Revisions and editors.

I admit, I'm sporadic about reading blogs, even ones I like...

But if you are in this business, it's important to keep track of what's going on.  So I do my best.  I'm very fortunate that my fellow editors often provide useful links via Twitter.


I look for definitions of editing all the time.  Why?  Because people ask me to explain my job.

Kris Rusch, who is an amazing source of publishing knowledge, provides a little two-week course on editing.

Part 1:  Editorial Revisions
Part 2:  Hiring Editors

If you're a writer do go and learn from her, I pray you.  Whether you're publishing your book, or in traditional publishing, or just trying to find out what all this means, Kris will help you at the Business Rusch.

Freelance and editing links.

How Do You Know When You Know Enough?

What is substantive editing?

Fact-checking a new word, part 1 and part 2 from Copyediting.com (link found through EditFish's reading list 5-Sept-12)


Freelancing:

10 Marks of a Self-Disciplined Freelancer


Also be sure to read the comments, as Angela Booth says:

If you decide you want to work with a company, don’t quit if they ignore your first dozen pitches. Keep pitching. Decide that you won’t stop pitching that company until one of three things happens: they go out of business, you die, or they offer you a contract.

Not only the best attitude, but she wins my vote for the best way to put this!

Adventures in full-time self-employment (Libro) has written Going It Alone at 40 in case you feel a need for encouragement.

Training: So You Want to Be an Editor.

This being September, my c/e anniversary month, I suspect more c/e and freelance info will be posted.  Keep an eye out...

Starting with the Editors' Association of Canada (EAC 2011) and So You Want to Be an Editor because So You Want to Be a Wizard is still one of my favorite Diane Duane books.

Make sure you look at that first link carefully...  I'd say that 90 percent of freelance editors still make the lower median wage.


Copyeditor Training Parts 1 (Various Courses), 2 (Other Options), and 3 (More Choices) by Erin Brenner.

KOK Edit (Editor-Mom) adds her views on training -- check her list for many colleges and associations and their editing courses.  Here's how to join the Copyediting-L list to learn more about other copy editors' thoughts on Editing or experience?

She also has the priceless Copyeditors' Knowledge Base.


Does Training Matter? What Publishers Say about Proofreading and Editing Courses by Louise Harnby, proofreader.  Also from Louise Harnby: Proofreaders-to-be: Loving Books Isn’t Enough.

Are Editors Born or Made? by Amy Einsohn [PDF].

Freelance copy editor training.

The importance of training:

Buyer beware!

CPD:  Training counts

Why train?


If you're interested in freelance editing, you should look into training.  I really can't stress this enough.

Some publishers won't hire freelancers without training or certification.  In the USA, we have the Editorial Freelancers Association; they offer online courses.  Other organizations exist, but I check EFA courses first.  The EFA's invaluable.


Margaret Aherne talks about Advanced Copy-Editing

What a publisher looks for before hiring you as an editorial freelancer

[Links broken.]

Many thanks to the SfEP and PTC, who provided these links originally (barring the EFA link, of course).

(Shhh!) Juggling colored pens here.

Tight deadline in.  I realize that I blog over at my fan blog far more than here, but in case you're wondering where I am, I'm inside a deadline.

I left a bunch of Tweets scheduled for the next few days, mostly but not all for my SH-fan mode... but I will be around in email for work and any crises.

I'll check DMs too, I imagine.  Be back Tweeting and such in four weeks.

ETA:  I may schedule blog drafts to finally post here.  Depends on how things are going with work by this weekend.  8)

My fifth year.

Countering Bad Advice to Aspiring Writers.

Which I discovered through Justine, who wrote On the Differences Between Publishing Houses.

Interesting post about losing faith in creative staffing agencies from 2009.  My last temp assignment was in 2008.  Temp work is something I definitely don't miss.


This is my fifth anniversary as a freelancer.  Some days I look around and am amazed that somehow I did become an editor.

Other days I look at the stack I have to work on, and pry myself off Twitter.  :D

Thank you, as always, to all the people who helped me get here and who help me all the time:  my friends, my family, my authors, my editors and my publishers, and everyone else I may have missed here.

Happy September to you!