A comment was made that my first post focused more on my background and not on what I currently have to offer, what experience I bring to my current position as a freelancer.

Well, to answer that, I want to briefly mention again what I did at the library.  Besides doing reference and reader’s advisory, I also became known as a detail-oriented person who could catch mistakes in brochures and newsletters before they were published for the public.  I don’t normally like to toot my own horn, but here is what one of my co-workers had to say about me:

My purpose in writing this letter is to recommend Denise Fuller’s abilities as an editor and her knowledge of children’s literature.  My name is Mark Richardson and I am the Young Adult Librarian at the Cedar Mill Community Library.  One of my goals over the past 2 to 3 years has been to develop different book lists for the teens at our library.  Each list usually has 30 to 40 books with short descriptions of the book.  It is easy to make mistakes when working on these lists, so I will often ask the other librarians to check them before I print out the final copy.  Denise has been invaluable as an editor for these lists.  She is detail oriented and skilled grammatically, so I am much more at ease printing out the final list after Denise has looked it over.  In addition, she is knowledgeable about juvenile and teen literature.  She makes the extra effort to keep up with what kids are reading currently.  Because of this, she is ideally suited to recommend age ranges for the books on the book list.  This is extremely important when making lists for middle grade vs. high school students.

Denise is kind and thoughtful and always willing to put in extra time and effort to help when asked.  Her editing skills are excellent and if you have a need for someone who is detail oriented with excellent editing skills, Denise is an exceptional choice.

 

Sincerely,

Mark D. Richardson
Young Adult Librarian
Cedar Mill Community Library

This is where I began to hone my skills, but it’s not the only kind of editing I had done before turning pro.  One person asked me to read her first novel and comment on it.  As I was reading, I corrected things that needed correcting.  Much later, after she’d had several other people read it and had made changes accordingly, she asked me to read it again and comment on it.  Again I made corrections as I went.

Then a woman in my church asked if she could hire me to proofread her manuscript.  This was the first time it occurred to me that I had a marketable skill.  I began to read up on what a proofreader and copy editor does, and the next book I got to edit, I taught myself how to track changes and make comments in Word.

Finally in April of 2012, I was ready to launch myself as a freelancer.  My first client had this to say about me:

I recently had the privilege of working with Denise Fuller on a writing project.  Her abilities to proofread (every writer needs a good proofreader!) and copyedit (every writer needs a good copyeditor, too!) are top drawer.  She is fast, her prices reasonable, and her work exemplary.  I wholeheartedly recommend her for your writing projects.

 

Sincerely,

Lenora R. Good

My specialty is in working with fiction and graphic novels for young people, but I will consider other projects too.  If you, or someone you know, is writing a book, contact me and let’s talk about what I can do for you.