Last week, I was delighted to hear that I have become an advanced member of the UK’s Society for Editors and Proofreaders. This hard-won qualification means that I can advertise my services on the SfEP website. I’m also currently taking a 10-day course to obtain a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. I gained a similar qualification in 2005, but …
Overload
I know that I’m overloaded with work because I’ve reverted to the ‘business card strategy’ that I used last year, when the tasks involved in running my business seemed overwhelming. Back then, I wrote each task on the back of one of my unused business cards, then sat on the floor with the cards around me, seeking inspiration. This time, …
Copying file names
I continue to be amazed by the power of the internet to answer computer questions. Today I needed to sort 15 Word files into three groups and then create a Word document showing the results. I knew there must be a better way to do this than copying and pasting individual file names, and there is. A quick search of …
Have laptop, will travel
I have now been away from Australia for 4 months and have managed to keep working, first from the UK and then from a small village in the south of France. The only ‘tools’ I brought with me were a few reference books and my laptop, but I found during my 3 months in France that I couldn’t manage without …
Befuddled by time zones
I’m currently visiting the UK and will soon be heading to the south of France, to take advantage of the fact that I can (in theory) work from anywhere. So far, the main issue has been the change in time zones. Some of my clients are in Australia and others in Europe. Normally, I prioritise the projects from Australia when …
Making progress on grammar
I’m enjoying the online course that I’m taking (Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage for Editors). The assignments are quite challenging, particularly those that involve identifying different sentence types or parts of sentences. I’m still struggling with the difference between phrases and clauses, and between simple, compound and complex sentences. However, the course notes are helpful, and the main text for the course …
Grammar course
This week I signed up to UC Berkley’s online Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage course (even though the title of the course includes the serial comma, which I wouldn’t use). It’s over 10 years since I last took a grammar course, so I thought it might be a good idea to have a refresher. Also, I’ve realised that I really enjoy studying. My business coach has …
Expanding my vocabulary
This week’s tip from Copyediting.com was about the new dictionary site Vocabulary.com. The site looks really interesting, because you can search for a word in different ways; for example, by parts of speech, number of syllables and rhyming words. You can also take a challenge, which involves answering a series of vocabulary questions. I’ve just done my first 15 questions …
New skills in Word
Last Saturday I gave a short training course on editing effectively with Word 2007, and on Monday I attended an advanced Word 2007 course. This ‘immersion’ in Word improved my macro skills, because I demonstrated a macro at the course I gave, and learnt more about macros at the course I attended. Later in the week, I had to use …
Screen snipping
This week I discovered that I know much less about InDesign than I thought (I volunteered to do a newsletter layout using InDesign, but now realise there’s a big difference between a real document and the examples in Classroom in a book). However, in organising material for the newsletter, I needed a partial screenshot from a website. I was pleased …