Whether you write or edit, you probably spend a lot of time staring at a computer screen, and you’re undoubtedly familiar with the fatigue and strain that comes along with it.
Maybe your eyes start to cross or refuse to focus on the words on the screen after a certain amount of time. Some people develop headaches or even more troubling maladies. However, in our present world, working purely with pen and paper just isn’t practical, and most of us don't have the funds to hire someone to do the typing for us, so what can we do to continue with the work we love?
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Sara has decided to self-publish. She’s written, rewritten, and revised her novel, and all her family and friends rave about how amazing it is. She had several of them check it over, but she wants to get it right, so she sends it off to a carefully selected professional editor, Jack.
Jack and Sara have agreed to follow Chicago style, so he gets to work on the editing process. He fixes all of the spelling and punctuation issues. He makes sure the main character’s best friend’s name doesn’t suddenly change from John to Jim in chapter seven. After weeks of hard work, he sends the manuscript back to Sara, who is horrified by the changes to her baby. Why are all of the numbers written out instead of numerals? It just looks wrong! And the Oxford comma? Just no. She wants it just right, so she sends it back to Jack who is happy to follow her preferences. And it’s not a big deal because a second round of editing was included in his quoted fee. Finally, everything is just the way Sara wants it, but she wants to be absolutely sure everything is perfect, so after getting her novel back from the designer/typesetter, she sends it off to a proofreader. But when it comes back, she’s once again horrified. All of the numerals are written out again, and that infernal Oxford comma has snuck back in! What happened? How could it have possibly gone so wrong? So, you’ve decided to hire a freelance editor.
Whether you’re self-publishing or just want someone to help clean up your manuscript before you submit it to a publishing house or a potential agent; whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction; or whether you have a blog, an article, or a full-length book, an editor can be a valuable partner in improving your writing and reaching your goals. But there are so many editors to choose from. How do you pick the right one? Finding the right editor is about more than just evaluating their technical skills, which is difficult enough. Here are a few suggestions for what to look for and ask about when deciding if an editor is right for you. A while back, I shared a blog post about how to create an exclusion dictionary in Microsoft Word to tell the program to flag certain words as misspelled even though they aren’t. And in that post, I also mentioned custom dictionaries.
Word comes with a fairly comprehensive default dictionary already installed. That default dictionary is set and can’t be altered by the average user. But what if you use an uncommon word or name in your writing? If you use it fairly often, dealing with all of those squiggly red lines and Word’s constant insistence that it’s wrong can get real annoying real fast. Fortunately, Word also has custom dictionary options. The custom dictionary acts as a supplement for you to manually input words you don’t want flagged. There are two main ways to add to your custom dictionary, and both are fairly easy. *Note—these instructions are for newer versions of Word. If you use a version from 2003 or before, WordTips provides instructions specific to the older programs. Previously, I posted a list of “misspelled” words that spelling checkers don’t flag because the misspelling is itself a real word. But what if you know there are certain words you’re prone to misspelling or that would be really embarrassing to get wrong?
It’s nearly impossible to catch with the eye all of those little slip-ups we’re all prone to, especially in a longer document. Is there a fix for this? Actually, there are a couple of solutions, especially if you’re working in Microsoft Word. You could keep a list of words by your computer and do a manual search with the Find feature. Or you can create an exclusion dictionary. Whatever word-processing software you use, it probably has a spelling checker. Spellcheck can be an incredibly useful tool for keeping your writing as error free as possible, but as you have probably already discovered, it’s not infallible.
Generally, your word processor won’t pick up on misspellings if the misspelled word is itself an actual word. Many editors compile a list of common misspellings to check for, and some eventually create an exclusion dictionary within the software. I recently reached out to my fellow editors online for some of the most common “misspellings” they see in their work to add to my list, and I thought I’d share their generous contributions here. I’ve broken the list down into three basic categories: words misspelled due to a slip of the fingers on the keyboard, words people often confuse because they sound alike, and a special section to watch out for because confusing those words usually leads to an extra dose of embarrassment. Have you ever read a novel where the first chapter reads like a synopsis of the characters’ backgrounds? By page ten, we already know who they are, where they came from, and what they’ve experienced.
It’s referred to as infodump, and it’s one of the major differences between novice writers and skilled story crafters. Is it everyday or every day? Onto or on to?
English is a funny, complicated language, full of these little questions that trip us all up. As the language changes and evolves, some words get split up or morph into completely new words, while others get glued together to form compounds. There are four in particular that stump us over and over: everyday/every day, anymore/any more, into/in to, and onto/on to. The problem is that each one can be written as one word or two, depending on the usage. Disclaimer I’m not a lawyer. The information below is a basic overview of your rights as an author under general copyright law but shouldn’t be considered legal counsel. Many new authors get nervous about showing their work to others for fear of their stories being stolen.
Will someone in my writing group steal my idea and publish before me? What about my editor? Is a publishing house safer than a freelancer? It all comes down to knowledge about how copyright works. With knowledge comes peace of mind. The good news is that your story is safer than you might think. But there are some legal points to keep in mind. The lowly comma might be one of the most frequently used (and misused) pieces of punctuation in the English language. It has so many uses that it can get confusing trying to keep straight how to use it and how not to.
One of the ways people often get into trouble with comma usage is in joining sentences. Varying your sentence length and complexity is a great way to control the pacing and flow of your writing. |
AuthorRebecca has a passion for helping you fill the world with great literature and making sure said literature doesn't get passed over for the lack of a little editing. Archives
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