Much has been written about the huge shift in working practices that has been accelerated by the events of the past year. There was already a trend towards more people working from home, and of course everything that has happened has forced more people to do this for a period of time, and perhaps more or less permanently in future. … Read More
What learning additional languages can teach me about editing my own
Last spring I decided to start learning another language again. I say ‘again’, because I do have some prior experience of learning languages. I studied French at school between the ages of 11 and 18, as well as a year of German from 13–14. When I was about 26 I spent two terms learning Spanish at an evening class, and … Read More
The aesthetics of editing
Editing text is a strange undertaking. The job is composed of many quite technical aspects – but without art, without attention to beauty, it is compromised. The technical aspects can be time-consuming to accomplish, and they’re essential. When I’m copyediting a piece of text, for example, I will do all of the following as a minimum: Check the overall structure … Read More
The story of a new name
I decided to change the name of my business for three reasons. The first was that I felt the business name I had no longer properly reflected who I was as an editor. When I first came up with ‘Liz Jones Editorial Solutions’, around ten years ago, I was happy with it. I had recently changed my own name (I … Read More
Professional editing is not about making text ‘correct’ – it’s about making it believable
When I was working with the designer of my new branding and website, I asked him not to use red. Instead we decided on orange. Much as I love the colour red (when I was small, I could imagine little more deficient than a box of crayons lacking a crimson or a scarlet), it is a complicated colour for an … Read More