Announcing . . .
In 2013, after a few years of writing essays here for copyeditors and writers, I stopped posting—mainly out of a fear of repeating myself. You were so good to keep coming back! I didn’t want to bore you. Meanwhile,
Writer, Editor, Helper
(The Subversive Copy Editor)
Writer, Editor, Helper
(The Subversive Copy Editor)
Tag Editor
No Crying in Copyediting?
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.
“Manual of Style: Being a Compilation of Rules . . .”
"Manual of Style: Being a Compilation of Rules in Force at the University of Chicago Press, To Which Are Appended Specimens of Types in Use." Such was titled the first published edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, printed in 1906.
Voodoo for Copyeditors
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…
“Beautiful Piece”: An Interview with Joseph G. Peterson
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…
Don’t Panic! Tips for Learning CMOS 16
It’s clear from the chatter online that many of you already have the sixteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, and that you love it. But, you know, at some point you’re going to have to open it. Cracking…
What’s in a Voice? Getting Attitude from an App
In a previous post I compared formal English to artificial speech generated by computers in the way it tends to remove personality from the text. But I’m sure you’ve noticed that nowadays many of the robots we talk to on…
Double Punctuation :: A Start
The logic behind many punctuation rules is difficult to discern—for the excellent reason that there isn’t any.
Copyediting Improv: Yes, We’re Creative
I know I’ve never seen an ad for a copyeditor that listed creativity or cleverness as the required qualifications. But not everyone understands that our work offers a great deal of potential for . . . fun.
Advice for Writers: Preparing Your E-Manuscript
When I complained recently about having to clean up writers’ electronic messes before getting down to copyediting, one aspiring writer asked for more specific advice. If you don't mind a somewhat longer post than usual, read on.