“A Step in the Write
Direction”
February 4,
2013
Update:
Not much to report.
Edited two books and enjoyed the warm weather (70 in Arizona Amarillo
Thought for the
Day:
Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to
guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for
tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand
beside!
— “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” (verse 3), Thomas O.
Chisholm, 1923.
Laugh for the
Day:
A second
grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, "Grandma, guess what?
We learned how to make babies today."
The
grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's
interesting." she said... "How do you make babies?"
"It's
simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es'."
Writers’
Tips
If you’re
looking to make extra money, perhaps the section below will help. It’s a little
long, but worth it if you’re looking to be a proofreader. A test follows for
those who want to take it. (This is taken from the chapter “Extra Income for
Writers” in my Step in the Write
Direction book.)
Proofreading
Whenever I tell someone
I’m a proofreader, I get one of two reactions: They think I look for mistakes in
everything they send me, or they look for mistakes in everything I send them.
Perhaps proofreading as a full-or part-time job interests you, and you wonder
what qualifications are required. Good spelling is important, of course, but it
takes more than that. It takes….
The Ability to Read
Slowly: If you are a fast
reader, you’ll have to unlearn this skill. In proofreading, you must read one
letter at a time, and realize that each one is a potential mistake. Using a
ruler works for many proofreaders.
Knowledge of Events,
Past and Present: For 18 years I typed
papers for university students. From this, I absorbed a myriad of information
that has proven useful in proofreading. Because you will be working with
materials covering a variety of subjects, it helps to be widely read. Also you
should keep up with current events. Sometimes from the time a book is edited to
when it is finally published, facts have changed. Or a book is reprinted from a
previous edition and the author has failed to update information such as people
who have died or the names of leaders and countries that have changed. Editors
will appreciate you bringing these facts to their
attention.
A Good Library:
A wise
investment for a proofreader is a good selection of reference material. My
library includes such books as atlases, travel guides, poetry and quotation
collections, a world almanac, and a one-volume encyclopedia, The Chicago Manual of Style, and the
latest dictionary (at present Webster’s
Collegiate 11th Edition), along with dictionaries from various
professions. If you are working with religious materials, you also may want to
purchase a hymnbook and different translations of the Bible. Of course, most of
this information is also available on the Internet. Just be sure the Web site is
up to date.
A Good Memory:
The
ability to remember details is important. For example, if you see a hyphenated
word, do you recall that you saw that same word spelled earlier as one or two
words? Or is the name of an author spelled one way in the book and another way
in the endnotes or bibliography? What about capitalization? Was a word
capitalized in one chapter, but lower case 10 chapters later? Because rules for
such things as commas and capitalization may vary among publishers, it’s your
job to know each publisher’s style and proofread accordingly, but consistency is
critical.
Common Sense:
As a
proofreader, you will not do any editing (correct grammar or change sentences
around); however, if you see an obvious error, let the editor know. For example,
I read a novel that took place over the course of a month. Three different times
during that month the author—in describing a romantic setting— wrote that there
was “a full moon” (three full moons in a month?). In another book, a 12-year-old
had broken her arm in a fall. The author wrote, “The next day as Judy braided
her hair…” Braiding her hair with a cast on her arm? The next day? Does the
color of a character’s hair or eyes change during the book? Did she age two
years in the space of a year? Catching these mistakes will get you a gold star
from publishers.
Know the Proofreading
Symbols: You can find a list of
proofreading symbols in every dictionary, or publishers may send you specific
symbols their house uses. Use these symbols to make your corrections in the
margin of the manuscript.
Where to Find Work:
·
Contact local writers
clubs
·
Go to local print
shops
·
Write to the Production
Manager (not the editor) of publishers listed in the Writers Market or the Christian Writers Market
Guide
These hints will also
pretty much apply to copy editing.
Proofreading
Test
There are 17 errors in
the following piece (actually 19, but the 18th rule I just learned
recently and the 19th one spell check caught [please don’t do use
spell check in your test!]). If you want to send back your results, use the
tracking tools (will show corrections in red), then send it back as an
attachment. Have fun!
Thankful Hart—or a Heart if Praise
bye
Donna Clark Goodrich
“Develop an attitude of praise,’ our
pastor told us in his Sunday message. “It will change your life”
I tried it. If it rained, I tried to
be thankful it didn’t flood. If it was to hot, I gave Thanks for our air
conditioner. For the ornery boy in my Sunday school class, I thanked god that
his parents cared enough to bring him. It seemed to work—for awhile!
Then in the next few years, I found
it harder to be thankful? My mother died of cancer. My husband had a serious car
accident that put him out of work for three months. Then, a few years later he
had a heart attack which—along with a number of other health problems—led to his
retirement At the age of 48. Having three teenagers for seven years increased
the stress.
“How can I be thankful?” I otfen
asked. Then one day while I was listening to the the words of a song a friend
was singing at church, the answer came to me: Being thankful is for things God gives to us; but a heart of
praise is giving thanks for who He
is.
Have we lost our sense of awe when
we are in God’s presence? I remember when our family first moved to Arizona
My son grabbed
his baseball autograph book and we took off for a batting practice where young
players where more than happy to sign their names. Suddenly a tall, imposing
figure walked toward us. I stopped, frozen in my tracks. Joe DiMaggio! I couldn’t speak, but our
son—who knew no fear—ran up to him. “Hey, Joe!” he yelled. “Can I have your
autograph.”
I thought
later, if I felt that much awe for a man who merely played baseball, how much
more awe should I feel when I come before God
I can still have an “attitude of
gratitude,” but now I realize that God deserves my highest praise—not because of
what He gives me, but because of who he is.
Have a good
week spreading the gospel through the printed page.
Donna Clark
Goodrich
www.thewritersfriend.net
"A Step in the Write Direction--the Complete How-to Guide for Christian Writers"
"A Step in the Write Direction--the Complete How-to Guide for Christian Writers"
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