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?

My love-hate relationship with printers

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Printers. Just about everyone who has a computer needs one. How else would we make hard copies? How else would we create things to pin to our bulletin boards? I could go on forever.

I love printers (specifically our HP DeskJet 4155e).

I love them because they can take blue, yellow, magenta, and black ink and combine them to form a vast pallet of colors.

I love them because they are fast. I am old enough to remember the slow, noisy dot matrix and daisywheel printers of yore. The one at my home is an inkjet.

I love them because it is not too difficult to install and change their ink cartridges. If I can do it, anyone can—even if I sometimes have to refresh my memory by viewing a YouTube tutorial. My mother bought a Brother printer a little over a year ago and I installed the cartridges in it without any problems.

I love them because they connect to my laptop via Wi-Fi, without messy cords and cables dangling off desks and waiting on the floor to trip me.

I love them because they do their job without audibly saying, “Don’t tell me you’re printing this!”

That being said…

I hate printers.

I hate them when the paper jams. Granted, this rarely happens with ours, and I don’t think most modern printers jam much, if at all.

I hate them when the cartridges run out of ink. This always seems to happen when I am printing something very important, and it is why I always order ink ahead of time so I can keep new cartridges handy.

I hate them when they go offline for a reason I cannot figure out to save my life.

I hate them when they stop being supported by their manufacturer and refuse to print in color or to print correctly. Then I need to buy another whole printer. Planned obsolescence.

How about you? Do you love printers or hate them? Or both?

How to behave in discussions

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If you are in a professional organization, chances are the organization maintains a discussion list or board (I’ll say “discussion list” for the rest of this post, even though I mean both). Such a list is an invaluable tool for sharing and getting great ideas, telling the occasional (appropriate) joke, and encouraging others, to name some. One of the professional organizations of which I am a member has a wonderful discussion list, the posts on which I read regularly. I also post on the list occasionally, when I have something important to say or have a question.

However, there are some people out there who make a discussion list harmful. These are the people who dress others down in front of thousands of other members when a mistake or an offense is made. They are the people who insult others and start fights. In the horrific summer of 2020, I witnessed a discussion list go into major meltdown.

How do the members of a professional organization keep a discussion list safe and comfortable for everyone? In my opinion, they do so by following the “three B’s and a T.”

Be respectful. Remember that not everyone shares your opinion. Remember that the people on a discussion board might not look like you, have your financial status, or even come from the same country as you, so do not assume that they think just like you do. Also, remarks or jokes that are critical of others—whether they look like you or not—are inappropriate and have no place on a discussion list.

Be kind. If, for example, an upset novice editor posts on the discussion list about how they  shortchanged a client by accident, don’t jump on the list and scold them, telling them how they should have used such and such timekeeping software and plugged in their brain. Instead, give them helpful suggestions along with an “I’m sorry this happened to you.” Right now, they need sympathy.

Be fruitful. By this, I mean that if you have a great idea about how you made something work for you, share it. Others on the discussion list will be grateful and may even thank you in a post. You can also pick up great ideas from others who share them.

Treat others the way you want to be treated on the discussion list. This one goes without saying.

If you are or have been on a discussion list or board, what has been your experience?

Background sounds, anyone?

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Different people (not only editors) listen to different kinds of background sounds while they work.

As for me, I prefer silence.

I do not like sounds in my vicinity while I am editing. I do not want the dishwasher, clothes washer, or dryer running while I work. I do not like hearing the grim sound of leaf blowers or lawnmowers outside my office space window.

And I especially do not like the white noise emitted by the heating/air conditioning vent that occupies a space on the wall directly above my work desk.

The world, however, does not revolve around me, and others have different preferences.

I had a roommate in college who liked to listen to music while she studied. Vocal music distracts me from working; however, because my roommate was such a sweetheart, I let her indulge herself with—gulp—country music. Not my preference by any means, but I tolerated it for a semester.

There were others in college whose tastes in background sound were even more offensive. They loved to blast hard rock or alternative rock music while they worked. Unfortunately, their music would inevitably be shared with me, since the dorm room walls were thin. That was when I would grumble and head to the library.

I have to say that at the moment I am typing this post, I feel rather hypocritical because I am not writing it in silence. I have classical music coming from the desktop computer behind me, courtesy of YouTube. I heard it said decades ago that instrumental classical music is the only music that actually enhances a person’s work or studying. I believe it. I love instrumental classical music (as long as the piece isn’t too loud) and right now it is relaxing me and fueling my brain as I write.

What do you like to listen to while you work, if anything?

A website is what you make of it

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If you are a freelance editor (or freelancer of any kind), chances are you have a website for your business. If you don’t have one, you really should—at least in my opinion. But this week’s blog post is not about why you should have a website. It’s about the essential things to have on it.

There is always, of course, the Home page. This needs to pique the interest of potential clients. There should be visual elements, such as pictures, to break up the paragraphs. (Having a photo of yourself is optional.) Just make sure you have permission to use the pictures! The Home page should also explain why your services are necessary to the client. For example: “Why should you have your writing copyedited?”

The Services page is also one of the most important. It explains exactly what you do. Be specific here; do you copyedit, line edit, or do developmental editing or ghostwriting? Some freelancers list their fees on the service page, while others choose not to.

The About page is where you list your credentials and show the client why you are good at what you do. You can also slip in a sentence about, for example, your hobbies (“When not reading or writing, I enjoy traveling.”) This paints you more as human rather than an editing machine.

The Testimonials page shows all the praise clients have given you. My advice is to ask for a short testimonial from every client who is happy with the work you have done for them. Do this right after the job is done, so that the client remembers you and your work clearly.

A blog is optional for a website, but having one and updating it regularly shows that you are diligent. You must be disciplined about blogging and do it once a week (or however often you have decided) and not just whenever you feel like it.

If you are a freelancer, what have you found is essential to put on your website?

Care of your LinkedIn profile

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If you are a freelance editor, or if you are a business owner of any kind, I am certain you have a profile on the social media platform known as LinkedIn. Even if you despise Facebook, X, or other social media sites, you know you need a LinkedIn profile because that is where potential clients will go to find out if you and your business are legitimate—and hopefully decide to work with you. Your profile needs to not only be there, but be impeccable.

In this post, I will discuss how to maintain your profile so that it will attract people and let them know that you really know your trade.

First, your picture should be up to date. It should look professional—no selfies from the night in Ocean City when you and your friends were drinking. A professional headshot is best, and many portrait studios will take one for a price. You do not want to leave the photo field on LinkedIn blank. Most people will dismiss a profile that has no picture.

Other items that should be regularly kept up to date are “About,” “Experience,” “Education,” and “Featured.” You should visit your LinkedIn profile about once a month and pay special attention to these sections. Update them as necessary. If you uploaded your resume in the “Featured” section, for example, and it is no longer up to date, then run, don’t walk, to Word, update your resume, and replace it.

A note about the “Experience” section: If you filled it in simply by posting your chronological resume, that will not impress anybody. For each role, it is best to write a short paragraph showing not only what you did, but what you accomplished by doing it. For example, in the entry for one of my volunteer positions at a church, I wrote, “My main role here was that of editing various works which the church produces, such as Bible study booklets, weekly programs, and informational materials. Thanks to my work, the church’s documents were crisp and professional in appearance.”

Don’t forget to collect as many recommendations as possible and list any honor societies you were in and any awards you have.

I wish you the best in your client- and work-seeking endeavors.

“You can tell who the lazy ones are.”

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Many of us freelance editors exercise our right to mental health by taking major holidays off. “Major” holidays, according to society, include Christmas, New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day (the latter three being US holidays).

However, what about the holidays on which the US federal government is closed, but many people work? The holidays like Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, and Veterans Day? It rather begs the question: Should a freelancer work on those days?

Before I answer this question, I feel the need to post the opinion of a scientist who once visited my alma mater and talked about the people who worked in his lab (which was part of a federal agency): “You can tell who the lazy ones are. They’re the ones who don’t show up on federal holidays like Presidents Day and Veterans Day.”

I don’t necessarily agree.

When it comes to freelancers, I believe that if there is a deadline of any kind, the answer is yes—a freelancer should work on these kinds of holidays, treating them like work days. I am, of course, speaking from my personal experience as a woman with no children. If a freelancer has children who have a day off school on such a holiday, they may need to rearrange their schedule so that they can care for and spend time with their children. After all, family comes first.

Another thing that I believe comes before work is a freelancer’s beliefs. If they wish to celebrate Juneteenth or Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Veterans Day in a meaningful way, they should be able to rearrange their schedule so that they can. (And by “meaningful way,” I do not mean drinking to excess the night before and/or sleeping late in the morning.)

What is your point of view about this?