My other job

My husband, Mark, returned from his last run as a long haul trucker on Monday.  I chose to become a freelance proofreader/copy editor so that I could be free to be with him in whatever the future holds.  We have a phone interview tomorrow morning with an organization where we’d be traveling around the country together.  We have also been Continue reading

Don’t buy too many green bananas

Yesterday I finished up with the book I’ve been editing for Delores Warner.  She’s written a memoir about the 18 months she spent taking care of her husband, Vern, after he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).  It’s her first book, but she’s doing everything right.  She has shown it to some of the people who walked through that journey with her Continue reading

My laptop wish list

I think it’s been about a year since I had a laptop.  When mine died I couldn’t afford to get a new one.  (I don’t use credit cards!)  I have been saving for one, and I have enough saved up now to buy one.  I’ll need one to take with me when Mark and I take our act on the road.  I’ve been giving some thought to what features I’d like my new laptop to have, and here is Continue reading

Many Windows On the World

My husband, Mark, is a long haul trucker.  He has been in nearly all the lower 48 states with the exception of a few in the NE corner of the country.  He’s seen all sorts of beautiful sights and had many adventures.  Wherever he goes he takes a camera, and he’s always ready to shoot something spectacular or interesting.  He took the picture I’m using for my Continue reading

It pays to keep your ears open!

This morning after church, I was making myself a cup of hot chocolate, and somewhere nearby, I heard a conversation going.  At first I thought it was someone describing a movie they’d seen or a book they’d read, and I wasn’t paying a lot of attention.  But then I heard Continue reading

Map your scene

 

When someone asks if I will edit their manuscript for them, I first tell them to send me several pages which I will edit for free.  Then I can give them an estimate of what I will charge for the whole book.  I had a prospective client send me an action scene out of a book he was writing.  For privacy, I won’t tell character names or the name of the writer, but here is a brief description of the action: