Editing

When You Need an Editor

October 6, 2020 by Judy

At first glance, the similarities between doctors and editors may be difficult to imagine. While editing may not have quite the number of specialties as the medical profession, it is no more a one size fits all profession than doctoring is. You may have a general practitioner for annual checkups, but when you break a bone, you’ll be referred to an orthopedic doctor. Sustain a heart attack and you’ll see a cardiologist. Likewise, it’s important to know that editor is an umbrella term that encompasses as many as five to seven “specialties.” Before we delve into them, however, I want …

Grammar Aracana – Part 1

June 18, 2020 by Judy

Or Grammar Tips You’ve Never Heard of But Use Anyway… One benefit of the global pandemic and shelter-in-place directives is greater access to online content. Before Zoom fatigue set in (about a month ago), I took advantage of several sessions that the Association of Copy Editors (ACES) offered in lieu of their annual conference. I couldn’t resist signing up for Grammar Arcana for its promise to cover Reduced Relative Clauses, Hortatory Subjunctives, Fused Participles, Double Genitives, Ditransitive Verbs, Nominative Absolutes, and Ablaut Reduplication. WHAT? I call myself an editor and I’ve never heard of these terms. What kind of imposter …

Not To Be Confused With – an expanded version

May 1, 2019 by jhagey

This week’s Not To Be Confused With… takes more bandwidth than usual. So, it’s a blog instead of a graphic.

You say Estate Sale, I say…

March 25, 2019 by jhagey

Better Half (BH) and I had ten minutes to kill before the store opened. We could spend it in the parking lot, waiting, or, on a lark follow the sign to the Estate Sale.

My Recent Reads

February 25, 2019 by jhagey

Some time ago I was challenged to read outside of my comfort zone, to explore other genres and non-Western authors. One recommendation was The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.

Editing vs. Changing

February 4, 2019 by jhagey

You know you need an editor to make sure your manuscript is as clean as it can be before you submit to a publisher or agent. But you’re concerned that an editor won’t respect your voice. Will he hold you to a rigid set of rules that you may not be totally familiar with? Will your manuscript be returned bathed in red ink?

7 Tips on Writing Well

December 20, 2018 by jhagey

Source: www.grammarcheck.net

National Handshake Day

June 28, 2018 by jhagey

“Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16).

Now that’s a biblical injunction few Christians take seriously these days. Perhaps it’s something to ponder on National Handshake Day. The handshake, however, predates Paul’s admonition by several centuries.

Shedding Light on More Confusables

June 21, 2018 by jhagey

I’m not going to kid you. Words and word usage can be confusing. Many words that originated in Latin come from the same root, but time and translation have changed their English meaning and usage.

Say What? Clearing up Confusion over Career and Careen

May 23, 2018 by jhagey

It’s hard to turn off my editor brain. Whether I read for information or pleasure, typos, punctuation, and usage errors seem to jump off the page. I may share the humorous typo with my Better Half and then post it on Facebook, or shudder in disgust at the lack of grammar acuity in today’s publishing world. Occasionally an error will send me to Google or Merriam-Webster to verify what I think. Is it an error? Or not?