Recently I started work on a copyediting project that intimidated me. I’ve copyedited hundreds of books, so this is unusual. A lot of the work I do is for returning clients, meaning that even if every book is different, there is enough that is similar about projects to make each beginning slightly less unknown. Even with new clients, I have … Read More
How to work outside your comfort zone
Starting 2022 as I mean to go on, my first editing job this year was outside my comfort zone. What do I mean by that? Well, I tend to focus on copyediting and proofreading, and I usually work on non-fiction (books, websites, press releases, educational resources, etc). I will tackle most subjects for a general audience, but I have particular … Read More
How to use data to run your business
data facts or information, especially when examined and used to find out things or to make decisions Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries Every year, I try to go to at least one event at the Wells Festival of Literature, which takes place a ten-minute walk from my house. Over the years I’ve seen some great speakers, including Rachel Clarke, Nicci Gerard, Jonathan … Read More
Learning to say yes
Last week I took part in a panel session on blogging at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, #CIEP2021. This being 2021, it happened via Zoom. I attended the 2020 conference too, but as a delegate only, so this was my first presentation online. (Of course I’ve been taking part in Zoom meetings for the … Read More
Riding the confidence wave (still)
This is a post I wrote and published in September 2015, just before I turned 40. I’ve often thought about it since – and especially now, as I prepare to take part in a session on blogging for the upcoming CIEP conference (#CIEP2021). I planned to update it for this blog (it originally appeared on my old blog, Eat Sleep … Read More
Freelance editing and the summer holidays
I’ve been fantasising about writing this post for a month … but here in the UK it’s been the summer holidays, so in reality it’s been all I can do to keep paid work going at a roughly normal level, and aim to get my kids off their screens and into the fresh air at least once a day. I … Read More
Respond and connect
It’s been just over half a year since I relaunched my business as Responsive Editing. I wrote then about the process of renaming, rebranding and the new website, and in that post I said I would write again in six months’ time on how it had all gone. That time is about now. Apparently in other news, yesterday evening we … Read More
How can we do the best job possible?
Recently, I had some disastrous tiling done in a small shower room in our house. (Not the tiles in the featured image. I couldn’t bear to include an actual photo.) It was so bad I almost felt I could have done better myself – and I’m no expert, having only ever applied nine tiles in my whole life. Meanwhile, the … Read More
If I don’t write it down, can it even happen?
I love to-do lists. As the owner of a small business, I have a million and one things to remember to do, from meeting major deadlines to all of the minuscule pieces of admin that keep things running smoothly and legally. Then of course there are the parallel demands of a fairly busy household. I used to keep a notebook … Read More
Too much information, or not enough?
I started mulling over writing this post months ago, after the first flurry of posts I’d published on my new website. My partner read one of them and he said, ‘I’m amazed at how much you give away, sometimes. You’re sharing trade secrets. You’re telling people how to do what you do!’ He looked a bit worried. So I told … Read More
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