Recent Posts
The Stages of Editing
When I tell people that I’m a freelance editor, it’s quite common for people to assume that I spend my days just looking at spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I don’t get this reaction from just the general public either. Many writers, especially new writers, also make this assumption. However, editing is so much more.
Editing falls into three main categories:
- developmental, which encompasses the rewriting process and critiques;
- copyediting, with the line-edits and, of course, the famous punctuation-and-grammar concept;
- and proofreading, which occurs after a manuscript is typeset for publication, looking for any errors that were either missed or introduced during the typesetting process.
Each stage is necessary for the production of a publishable book.
The initial drafting of a story is a solitary practice. However, during the different editing phases, it’s vital for every writer to seek out those extra sets of eyes to provide objective input. The who and the when will depend entirely on what stage your manuscript is at.
The stages of editing described in this post are the same for both traditional and self-publication. It’s just the players that change.
The Power of a Name
Within my writing circles, discussions about pen names have come up frequently of late. I guess it’s because many of my writing buddies are turning their attention to self-publishing, and many of them have one reason or another to not want to use their real name.
In fact, if I think about it—I mean really think about it—none of my writing buddies publish under their real names. For one writer, it’s because she wants to separate her publishing from her real life (so her students can’t find her online). Another wants to protect her children from what could become negative backlash if other parents work out the connection between the two names. For another, it’s because she wants to separate her fiction from her nonfiction. And for another, it’s because their day job would be at risk if their employer ever worked out the truth about the nature of their fictional writing.
Regardless of the reason, it’s always interesting to see how others come to the conclusion about what name they want to publish under.
And for me… I laughed at myself when I discovered that I had made the decision about my pen name back when I was just starting high school.
Being a writer and editor with dyslexia
I have dyslexia, diagnosed at the age of nine with two separate forms. Reading was incredibly difficult, but I learned to adapt. And I refuse to let it label me as something I’m not.
When people learn that I have dyslexia, it often comes as a bit of surprise. I am a writer and a professional editor, after all. I spend a lot of time behind the computer or with my nose stuck in a book. So, it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility that someone would question my career choice when they hear the truth about my history.
There is still a lot of negative stigma surrounding dyslexia, but what people don’t realize is that the majority of the people on the planet have one form or another of dyslexia—but they just don’t know it.
For most people, their form is so weak that they were able to easily compensate. However, for approximately 15% of American children [1], for 30 to 50% of prisoners around the world [2], the dyslexic forms are severe enough to cause significant issues.
Today, a friend of mine, Beth Beamish, is releasing a book about what it’s like to be a parent of a dyslexic child, with practical advice on how parents can help their children through this.
Dyslexia is not a disease. It’s just a different way of seeing the world.
To help Beth Beamish spread the word about her book, I thought it might be a good idea to share my own story, highlighting that having dyslexia doesn’t stop you from following your dreams, whatever those dreams might be.
Social Media Realignment Experiment 2.0
The first step in dealing with any addiction is to recognize that you have a problem. So…
“Hi, my name is Judy, and I’m addicted to social media.”
Social media and I have weird relationship, and yes, addiction is part of that. I’m obsessed with understanding how security works on the platforms, but the moment I’m in there…
“Oh, look… Some useless post about red carpet fashion disasters… or the latest chaos among the British royal family… or how the children of stars look like their parents.”
I’m a sucker for the meaningless and boring… and there just went my precious writing time.
I have tried to so a Social Media Realignment Experiment before… and failed. My first attempt was with the goal to realign my social media usage to my professional goals. Quitting all social media wasn’t an option for me, but my everyday usage was out of control.
However, in the original experiment, I was too vague on what I wanted to achieve. So, it’s time to kick the Social Media Realignment Experiment into Version 2.0.
Eulogy for My Mother
It came out of nowhere. There was no warning that something would happen. To top matters off, it was a rare side effect to a standard practice of treatment.
Yet, my world was flipped upside down in a matter of hours.
On Monday 21st September, 2020 at 6:12 pm, I received an odd text message from my father, stating that my mother had a heart attack and was in transit to Christchurch Hospital. It came through on my smartwatch while I was on the toilet. Let’s just say that it was the fastest pee-wipe-and-flush that I have ever done in my life.
(I don’t think I’ll ever understand why he didn’t just phone, but that doesn’t matter now.)
I’m going to rush past the chaos that happened that night, because it too doesn’t matter at this moment. What does matter is that late on Monday evening, my mother developed a brain bleed as a result of a medication that she was given prior to transport to Christchurch. She had a stroke and slipped into a coma.
On Wednesday 23rd September, 2020 at 1:58pm, she was pronounced brain dead.
I have made so many notes about what happened, trying to reason it all in my head. I’m not sure I’ll ever fully reason it. But I try.
What follows is the eulogy that I had read out at my mother’s memorial service the following week.
US Law and Cellphones
I will admit that I have a morbid interest in crime. My brain is happy to think about what nasty things that bad guys can get up to. As a fiction writer, that is not only going to be bad, it’s going to lean towards pure evil—then take it one step further.
My stories are primarily set in the US, which means I have to spend a significant amount of time getting my head around various aspects of US law and police procedures. With there being differences between federal, state, and country (sometimes even city), it can seriously do the head in.
But the joys of being a fiction writer, I only need to be plausible. Not everything I read about US law will make its way into one of my manuscripts, but some readers might be interested in learning about the technological aspects of US law that I uncovered.
Today, it’s the little quirk associated with looking at an arrestee’s smartphone.