(The Subversive Copy Editor)
(The Subversive Copy Editor)
Do you ever wake up peppy and bounce out of bed Tiggerlike, no need for coffee, dig in the back of the closet for that kicky little skirt, brush your teeth a bit too enthusiastically and splat a glop of toothpaste down the front of the kicky skirt . . .
Do you often find yourself at a party where the person making introductions is unaware of the etiquette whereby you mention a likely mutual interest such as “Carol also has a garden,” or “Carol also has a rotator cuff injury,”…
Sometimes the glamour-meter in the life of a copyeditor takes a plunge. And given that the meter starts somewhere near zero, you know I’m talking serious drudgery here: The index whose subheadings aren’t alphabetized. The table that has to be…
There was a job opening in our department this summer, and I got to look at the résumés that came in: 415 résumés + 415 cover letters = 1,140 pages of stuff to at least glance at. (We’re obliged to…
Will Dunne is a playwright, scriptwriter, and teacher whose plays have received many international, national, and local honors. I got to know him when I copyedited his book, The Dramatic Writer’s Companion: Tools to Develop Characters, Cause Scenes, and Build…
Nature is okay, if you like that sort of thing. But for someone used to the quiet of a city neighborhood, nature can seem pretty noisy. And messy. And annoying—have you ever been to the ocean shore? At first it’s…
From the earliest age, we love and fear being lost. Peek-a-boo, blind man’s bluff, hide and seek—all delicious little moments of panic and relief. For adults, being lost loses appeal—at least for those of us without a sense of direction.…
I had a bad week recently and found myself getting behind on my main editing project (“Trade book: Must Not Slide!”). Unscheduled chores kept landing in my in box. As the week progressed and I became more and more grumpy and panicky, I started making mistakes, which only added more work and stress.
A few years ago I visited the creepy but fascinating Voodoo Museum in New Orleans. I didn’t need to take the tour in order to believe in curses. I myself live under two that I know of. The first one…
My long-time colleague Joseph G. Peterson is also a novelist whose first book, Beautiful Piece, was published last year by Northern Illinois University Press in their Switchgrass imprint. The book is a stunner, pulling the reader straight into the troubled…