Month: March 2024

Freebies? Sure…in moderation.

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How did I get my first editing experience? By volunteering.

I began by editing for the church my husband and I belong to. I had been doing some menial tasks there, such as cleaning, when the church staff discovered that I was extremely good at writing and copyediting. I don’t exactly recall how this happened, but I was soon put in charge of copyediting the church’s weekly programs—a task I really enjoyed. BibleGateway.com soon became my best friend.

Soon afterwards, I began copyediting larger documents for the church. I edited booklets describing the small groups available for each season, the staff handbook, the safety manual for child care workers, and other material. I loved doing all of them. The church eventually became my first client and remained so for years, until I resumed working for them pro bono due to their need to save money.

Around the same time that I began editing for the church, I approached our local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and asked about writing for them on a volunteer basis. I eventually began editing their website, going over it every month and compiling a list of changes to be sent to the webmaster. For several years I did this until my paid work began to take off and my time became more limited. Then I connected with another editor, who was looking for pro bono experience as I had been, and handed her the reins. (It was important to find someone else to replace me so that Habitat for Humanity would not be left high and dry.)

Currently, I am on the Board of Directors for our homeowners’ association. Last fall, the Board began making a periodic newsletter, which is sent to each homeowner in our condo community. Guess who writes it? A homeowner who sees how well the newsletter is written and edited is likely to refer me to a potential client they know. Win-win.

Have you done any volunteer editing? What was it like for you?

NOTE: Next Sunday is a holiday that holds deep spiritual significance for me and which I will be celebrating with my husband and family. I will be back on the blog in two weeks. Until then, please keep well.

How to replace a computer…Fiedler style

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First, you must decide that you want to replace the computer. Glance at your nine-year-old minitower (yes, I said it is nine years old) and sigh about how it served you in a flash for years but is now as slow as molasses. Then look at the ancient monitor that was given to you by a good friend when your last one suddenly died during an editing gig. Tell the machines that it’s been great working with them all these years, but it is time for them to go to the big office desk in the sky.

Next, go online and write down the model numbers of a couple of nice laptops that interest you and which you would like to make part of your family.

Haul the minitower and monitor to the office/electronics store and tell the friendly tech service folks that you would like your information transferred to the laptop of your choice. Say goodbye to your “old faithful” pieces of equipment and pay for your new laptop (you will not actually have it for a few days, so be absolutely sure to save the paperwork!). Let the tech service folks take care of e-cycling the minitower and monitor (don’t forget to thank them for this).

When the store notifies you that your laptop is ready, pick it up and take it home. Unbox it and do your best to hook everything up. Call your spouse to come and help you. Make sure one of things you attach is your nice ergonomic keyboard, and another is your awesome speaker set (the latter for watching YouTube videos and blasting Eurodance music while you clean the bathroom).

Alas, the speakers won’t work. You can’t figure this out, so take the laptop back to the store and beg for help. The tech service person will plug a set of speakers into your laptop without a hitch. Sigh and go home.

Plug your speakers into your laptop again and rejoice when they work. Begin using your new laptop with pleasure.

Finally, reassure your three-year-old work laptop at the other end of the room that you still love it.

Have you replaced hardware recently? How did it go?

A neat desk in a sign of a sick mind…or is it?

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Thus read a sign (minus …or is it?) above a rather messy desk in the classroom of my high school newspaper’s faculty adviser.

My workplace is located in a corner of our condo’s “office room.” My main furniture is a work desk and a bookshelf, both of which I attempt to keep tidy. I have to admit, however, that I am not successful at this every single day. Papers and envelopes tend to accumulate on the corners of my desk, and every so often I go through them, either tossing or filing them in order to make my desk tidy again.

At the different institutions of higher learning which I attended, I had a couple of professors who, while being extremely intelligent and knowledgeable in their subjects, had offices which were unbelievably messy. I mean papers piled up near the ceiling in one case. I supposed that these faculty members had their own systems for finding what they needed quickly. At least, I hope they did.

Personally, I think that if things ever get the point where you cannot find what you need quickly, you need to tidy up. When you need a hard copy document and you shuffle papers around for several minutes trying to find it, it is embarrassing for you if there is someone in your office space watching you. They might think you are a slob. I would even be humiliated if nobody were nearby.

For me, straightening up often involves the use of folders. I use labeled folders to store important things, including documents that don’t have to do with my work, such as paid medical bills and insurance statements. Everyone knows that a shredder is, of course, a highly important thing to have (although I wish it did not make so much noise to torture my sensitive ears). And unwanted papers with no personal information on them belong in the recycling bin.

Which system works better for you—tidy or untidy?

Unnatural disasters

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I am genuinely concerned for the members of one of my professional organizations right now. During the first week of April, they are having a conference in San Diego.

I am concerned because the state of California, including San Diego, has been pummeled with natural disasters lately. In the southern part of the state, there have been floods and mudslides. In the north, there was just this week a blizzard, and I cannot even recall what else has plagued this part of the Golden State in the last several months.

I want my colleagues to stay safe.

It seems to me that California used to be the state with perfect weather, no hurricanes, blizzards, torrential downpours, or floods. (I have always lived on the East Coast, so I can’t really say that; I am going by my impressions only.) Now they can’t catch a break. And on top of all of this, they sometimes have earthquakes. Earthquakes seem to be the worst natural disasters because you cannot predict when they will hit or evacuate ahead of time.

Forgive me now for saying something that is often considered political but is scientific: The climate is changing.

I have family in Québec, Canada who got along without air conditioning in their homes for decades. Many people in that area are now installing air conditioning, because it often gets brutally hot in the summer. One summer, the temperature in the Montreal area hit a scorching 98° F and the authorities were telling people without air conditioning (i.e., nearly everyone) to go to malls, libraries, public pools, and other cool places and not stay home. The community swimming pool in my aunt and uncle’s neighborhood was open until the wee hours so people could cool off instead of sweating in their beds.

In the Maryland city where I live, there is a large pond in a beautiful downtown park. At one end of the pond are the remains of a shelter for ice skaters. They are there for historic purposes only, because skating is now forbidden on the pond. This is because—you guessed it—the ice does not freeze hard enough to be safe for skating.

These are my observations. What are yours?