Beginning in 1985, I was blessed with a grandchild every year for five years. How honoured I felt! Birthdays come around every year and there’s always a decision about what one can give as a memorable gift. When my first grandson turned four, I decided to share my...
The way things were For the first seventeen years of my editing career, my LinkedIn profile was as bare-bones as it could be. It included my name, the headline ‘Freelance editor’ and the most basic information about my education, qualifications and teaching experience...
I love editing poetry. One engages both the left and right sides of the brain, in that one has to discern sentences in the midst of the words, ensuring that the underlying structure is sound, while also paying attention to the sense of sound or musicality. Apart from...
Abbreviations are intended to make dense text more easily readable, but too many can be irritating. They are always dealt with separately in guidelines for text and for references; the instructions sometimes contradict one another or are not specific. So, how do we...
Let’s be honest – getting involved can be messy at times. I’ve been an over-the-top volunteer, a background worker and all the in-between options as well – and of course some have been more successful than others. In hindsight, the insight and value that getting...
At year-end, I gathered my supporting documents to hand over to my accountant. The purpose was to compile the first set of annual financial statements and tax returns for a company that I had established for my editing business. I was not unaware of what my business...
After living and working in a city for my entire life, I changed gear for a better quality lifestyle. My husband and I now live on our farm in the Eastern Cape, bordering the Baviaans Nature Reserve, part of the Baviaans Wilderness Area – a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
Have you ever found yourself unable to concentrate on a page proof because you have already worked on the text once too often? For some of my clients, I need to proofread the manuscript at the end of the production process. By this time, I have skimmed the text...
At first, I didn’t think I needed to join the Professional Editors’ Guild (PEG). However, it became clear to me that it was important to do so. I joined PEG in October 2019, although I had called myself an editor since 2003. I had come to know of PEG’s existence, but...
Whether we admit it or not, editing comes with a certain measure of power. With a stroke of the proverbial red pen, we can dash writing dreams and topple empires full of plot holes. But with great power comes great responsibility, not so? Power is a fickle thing. What...
Dealing with two pauses at once – the need for physical rest after a health setback and the financial worry of knowing the holiday drought is still ahead and the pot isn’t full enough. For many South African freelancers, December and January bring mixed emotions. We...
When I joined the Professional Editors’ Guild in 2022, I thought I had editing and proofreading down to a fine art. I have good English abilities and a natural eye for detail. I love the technical side of editing – the formatting, fitting and finessing. I'm equally...
Every creative hits a block at least once in their career. It might be extreme to say that every passion has an expiry date, but it certainly has a maturing stage. It’s not you; it’s me I experienced my block roughly two weeks ago. I can’t pinpoint exactly why it...
‘I just looove accounting!’ said no editor ever. Yet, if we consider that we as freelancers are all running businesses, then bringing home the bacon and accounting for it [insert eye-roll here] should be a top priority. ‘But why are numbers so boooring?’ [much...
Wouldn’t we all love to have a fairy godperson swoop over our work, sprinkle some magic dust and transform it into something readable, accurate, consistent and cogent, every time? Do we gnaw on our fingernails, stressing over whether we can carve that adjective...
It’s easy, when you are copy-editing, to get lulled into a sense that the words you are reading are as they should be. But the good editor’s motto is to take nothing for granted. An article on the News24 website made my husband cross. The article, about a drowning in...
Editing is not just someone correcting mistakes in something you’ve written. It’s a dialogue in which the writer has a vital part to play … When I submit a quote for an editing job, it contains this sentence: ‘The fee includes one set of amendments based on client...
I believe in building professional connections. All the time. My network of professionals is made up of colleagues and clients almost entirely related to my field of work in one way or another. It’s where I learn, I feel motivated and I expand my knowledge, skills and...
The first time I had to deliver difficult feedback to a fiction author was on a fantasy manuscript, brimming with imagination but bogged down by clunky prose and plot holes. I spent hours deliberating over how to approach my critique, torn between honouring the...
The social media landscape in 2025 Social media (SM) has exploded around the world in the past 25 years, with the big platforms launching after 2000, eg: Reddit and YouTube in 2005; Twitter and Facebook in 2006; WhatsApp in 2009; Pinterest and Instagram in 2010;...
