If you are an editor, you know that the 18^th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) is coming out this September. Being an editing geek, I’m very excited. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on its butter-yellow cover with its bright red lettering.

And if you are a scientific editor, you know that the 9^th edition of Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers just came out last month with a new title—The CSE Manual (CSE). I’m excited about this one, too, and I will be purchasing it soon.

What will I do with my older editions of CMoS and CSE? Right now, they are both sitting on the bookshelf next to my work desk, looking sad because they know they are going to be replaced. Does anyone like being replaced? Of course not, but in this case, it is definitely necessary.

I could keep the old editions in my office. Not a good idea, because they will soon become clutter. Clutter is very bad for any office, especially that of an editor. The books will end up on the floor if I do this, and they will have to be moved every time we vacuum.

I could try to sell the old editions on eBay or another auction service. However, there are a few problems with this idea. People will know the manuals are out of date, and so they will be reluctant to buy them. If the manuals do sell, they will not fetch much money. (My CMoS doesn’t even have a dust jacket anymore.) Plus, I will have to pay a pretty penny to ship them, because they certainly are heavy.

What I will probably do with my old CMoS and CSE manuals is take them to a huge used bookstore located in the city where I live. According to the store’s website, it takes in and pays for just about any book. Granted, it does not pay much for outdated manuals such as the ones I have—I might only get a few dollars for each. However, the manuals will not take up valuable real estate in my office anymore, and I will not lose money shipping them to a private buyer. As for the money I will receive for them, “Every little bit helps.”

What do you do with your style manuals once they become outdated?

I love working remotely, but at times it can get rather isolating. One thing that keeps me sane is the window immediately to my right in my office (i.e., the smaller bedroom in my condo which serves as my office). Some editors might not prefer a window in their office because they find it distracting—and I admit it can be that way sometimes. However, I love having a window next to me. “Why?” you ask.

I love sunlight. If I did not have the sunlight coming from the window, I would have to light up my office completely with lamps. I do use a few lamps in the office to supplement the natural light from the window, but I would rather not rely on artificial light completely. Besides, sunlight is much brighter and much more cheerful.

A window can also be opened, provided there is a screen. This gives me the scent of freshly cut grass, which I love (I am blessed enough not to suffer from allergies—and you have my sympathy, dear reader, if you do). It also lets in background sounds, such as those of airplanes and lawn mowers, that let me know there is life outside of my building. (However, one sound I never want to hear from the window is Bzzz, because that means a wasp or yellow jacket has found her way in. I am terrified of those things.)

At times, I turn off my Toggl timer and look out my window for a minute or two before going back to work. One thing of which I always take note is the greenery outside. I feel so lucky to live in a community that has a plethora of trees. My husband and I previously lived on a city block where there was nothing but concrete and vinyl siding; during this time, I missed trees very much.

Do you prefer having a window where you work? Why or why not?

I would like to make an announcement.

On May 1^st, I upgraded my laptop to Windows 11.

My almost-four-year-old laptop had been running Windows 10 since I purchased it, and all of my friends and family know that I am resistant to change. For a couple of years, the laptop would occasionally present me with pop-ups that screamed that Windows 11 was available and that upgrading was easy.

“Oh, su-u-u-u-ure,” I thought.

My biggest fears about upgrading the operating system were that the computer would crash while I was trying to do it, that it would mess up all of my software and make me lose tons of valuable files, and that I would lose my Word macros. Even though I backed up my macros a while back, I absolutely did not want to have to reinstall them.

I wanted other people’s opinions, so I threw my question out to the discussion forum of one of my professional editor organizations. “Have you upgraded to Windows 11? What do you think of you? If you use macros, did you lose them?”

Of all the responses my post received (and there were quite a few), almost everybody’s experiences with Windows 11 were smooth and easy.

But one person had indeed lost their macros when they upgraded. One was enough for me to keep resisting the change.

I happen to have a close friend of more than thirty years who now works for Microsoft, and I finally addressed the elephant in the room and asked her if I should upgrade. She indicated that I definitely should. So, on May 1, 2024, I took the plunge. The software literally took hours to download, and this was far from encouraging. But then the installation happened quickly, and suddenly my beloved laptop was running Windows 11.

The big test was whether I still had my macros. I opened a Word document and tried some out. Lo and behold, they worked! I was overjoyed. The only thing that really bothered me was that the beautiful photo of my husband and me in Myrtle Beach that had been my wallpaper was gone, replaced by an ugly black background. After about ten days of this, I did some work with copying files and restored the photo to my wallpaper. (I won’t bore you with how I did this, but please fill out my contact form if you would like me to explain.)

Today, I am loving Windows 11. What has been your experience with it?

If you are a freelance editor, the best way to gain new clients is by word of mouth.

However, there are times when even word of mouth is not enough. During those times, an editor must go where their potential clients are and contact people who don’t know them from Adam. Back when this was done over the telephone, it was known as “cold calling.” Now that we live in the age of the internet, the contact is most often established via email and the process is called “cold emailing.”

Does cold emailing work? I have to say that it does not work often, but it sometimes does. I have gotten work from it. Therefore, I must recommend it, as difficult as it can be.

Cold emailing is difficult mainly for two reasons. First, an editor must find out exactly whom to contact and find that person’s email address. Second, an editor must craft an expertly written email which sells them and their services.

Let’s say I wish to edit research manuscripts and sell my scientific editing skills to a biochemistry department in a university. I either comb through the university’s website to find the department or Google “X University Department of Biochemistry” (the latter is much quicker and easier). Once I am on the departmental website, I look at the faculty page. This always tells me the name and email address of the department chair. I may have to look through a list to find who the chair is, but I can always find out.

Once I have the chair’s email address, I carefully write my letter of introduction. This letter emphasizes what I can do for the department’s researchers, my expertise, and an example of why I am good at what I do. Of course, I also include my email address as a point of contact and links to my website and professional profiles (such as LinkedIn). It is very careful to double check the spelling of the chair’s last name; some names which are of non-English origin can be tricky for those of us who are used to English.

One thing I never include in a cold email is my resume in an attachment. Many university servers will block emails that bear attachments or strip the attachments from the emails. To circumvent this issue, I always include the sentence, “My resume will be provided upon request.” Do you use cold emails to obtain new clients? What are your suggestions for them?

Before I started freelancing, I worked staff jobs. Each staff job required an interview, of course.

I have to admit that for each successful job interview I have had, I’ve had about five unsuccessful ones. Most of these were not my fault; another candidate was more skilled or had more experience. However, I have had a few disastrous interviews over the years which taught me valuable lessons. Let us review.

Never wear a Mickey Mouse watch to an interview (or one bearing the image of any cartoon character, for that matter). There was one incident in which my fancy, formal Swiss watch which I normally wear to interviews had a dead battery, and I absolutely had to know the time, so I donned the only other watch I owned—my Mickey Mouse watch, hoping that the interviewer would not notice. I hoped against hope. The interviewer said, “I find it interesting that someone would wear a Mickey Mouse watch to an interview.”

I replied, “My other watch has a dead battery, and I absolutely have to know what time it is. Punctuality is very important to me.” This was the truth, but he didn’t buy that.

Turn off the ringer on your cell phone. I failed to do this only once in my life and—you guessed it—my phone rang during the interview. At least I did not answer it.

Never second-guess the driving directions that you printed out (this applied in the days before GPS). I once had an interview in an unfamiliar area, and to be prepared, I mapped out and printed out driving directions from my home to the job location. For some reason, I second-guessed them—and got terribly lost. I had to call the location and tell them I could not make it because I could not find them.

Never try to squeeze your body into an interview suit that is some five years old (or older). This is self-explanatory.

What advice do you have for not being embarrassed at an interview?

I don’t often talk about my own successes, but I really should do so more often.

Last year, in November and December, I edited two catalogs for an outdoor furniture company for which a friend of mine does ecommerce. The catalogs were printed this past March and were a rousing success. I’ve been told that sales are doing very well this quarter.

I don’t want to be conceited, but I like to think I had a hand in it.

I used Adobe Acrobat to edit the catalogs and became more skilled in its use.

One of the catalogs I edited was the retail catalog. It is meant to market the furniture to individual consumers who live in homes. At 119 pages, it is full of beautiful photos of the furniture pieces. The photos are captioned with the names and prices of each piece, and the captioning was where I came in.

I was given a master Excel spreadsheet showing the price of each furniture piece; the spreadsheet was thousands of lines long. I looked up the price of each piece by searching for its name in the Search feature and made sure that the price on the spreadsheet was the same as the price given in the catalog. If they differed, I called it out by making a comment on the catalog page. The spreadsheet, like the customer, was always right.

I was also responsible for making sure there were no typos in the text boxes or the product names. Typos make things look very unprofessional.

The other catalog on which I worked was the trade catalog, and it is meant to market the furniture to institutions, such as colleges, hospitals, and restaurants. It features pieces like benches, café tables, and armchairs. Like the retail catalog, it is 119 pages long and filled with gorgeous photos. Unlike the retail catalog, it also contains diagrams for each furniture piece which show its dimensions in inches.

To edit the trade catalog, I used the company’s website. I made sure that the dimensions given in the catalog matched the dimensions on the website, and verified each SKU number (or item number). Again, I also edited the grammar, spelling, and punctuation in the text boxes and product names.

I wish I could display the catalogs on my blog and on LinkedIn.

Before editing science, I worked in academic scientific laboratories. I did so for about eight years (not including my graduate studies).

While I learned many techniques and constructive behaviors from my fellow technicians, postdocs, and supervisors, I also learned some actions to avoid from some of them (yes, I have actually observed most of the following offenses made by professional lab staff). If you work in a scientific laboratory or plan to in the future, you may wish to take note of these so that you do not put yourself in a dangerous or inappropriate situation.

Never eat, drink, or chew gum in a lab. This is an obvious one. If you put something in your mouth, you are most likely ingesting something that has been contaminated with chemicals, bacteria, or something worse. Imagine ingesting phenol, methanol, or E. coli. That is what you risk if you do this.

Never wear sandals or flip-flops in a lab. Things often get dripped and spilled on the floor during procedures, and you don’t want caustic or biohazardous solutions on your feet. Even worse would be if you were holding a cryostat blade, for example, and dropped that on your foot. Save that footwear for the beach or pool.

Never do your taxes at your desk in a lab. This is just plain inappropriate. Set aside time to do them at home. I don’t care if it is April 14^th. If it is that late, shame on you.

Never play on your phone at your desk in a lab. People will believe you are not serious about your work if you do. It’s better to keep your phone in a drawer in your desk (crack the drawer open a bit so you can hear the phone ring).

And finally…

If you must smoke or vape, go outside to a designated area. Don’t even think of lighting a cigarette with all of the flammable chemicals that are used and stored in a lab.

If you have worked in labs, what other “no-no’s” can you think of?

We hear a lot of talk about diversity in STEM these days and about how we need to have more of it.

I couldn’t agree more.

Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in science and math fields, and we need to do more to include them. However…

…there exists another minority that is underrepresented in STEM. I’m talking about people with physical disabilities. (Those with other kinds of disabilities are affected by this exclusion as well, but for the purposes of this post, I will focus on physical disabilities.)

I have mild, although real and diagnosed, cerebral palsy (CP), which affects the coordination in my small muscles, as well as my walking. This has undoubtedly affected my performance in the biological research laboratory. To wit…

I was bullied repeatedly and ultimately fired from a job in an academic research lab where my CP would not allow me to put together small devices and manipulate tiny tubes in order to perform a crucial experiment. My CP also impeded my ability to prepare and isolate plasmid DNA. “We only have a year and a half left on our grant. Do you want a job in a year and a half?” I was told, proving that in some labs, the grants are infinitely more important than the employees.

I later had a position in a lab at a different institution in which I had to work with live mice. This work included restraining the mice and snipping off the ends of their tails with special scissors (yes, cruelty is the norm in some undertakings). Once again, my CP did not allow my hands to cooperate no matter how hard I tried, and I was fired from this job as well. My principal investigator cited my lack of dexterity as one of the main reasons for my dismissal.

I never worked in an industry lab. I took a few courses at the local community college which taught how to do cell culture, chromatography, and other procedures important to the industry. Although I did well on the exams, my lab performance was of concern to the instructor, who believed that I worked too slowly. And my instructor was right.

Is anyone willing to make a reasonable accommodation for a worker who needs to be more deliberate and careful in their work in order to do a good job?

If you have a physical disability and work in STEM, please let me hear from you. Are you being treated fairly?

Last week this blog focused on those who keep live animals in their workplace offices. If doing so helps you work more efficiently, I say go for it.

If I kept live animals in my workspace, I personally would find them distracting—even an aquarium full of fish swimming about. However, I do not want my office space to be sterile and devoid of life (or anything that resembles life), either.

This is why I have stuffed animals in my office space.

I do not have a whole menagerie similar to what a little girl might have in her bedroom. I only have three stuffed animals at the moment. Please allow me to introduce you to each of them.

First, there is the Maryland Quarter Bear. For those of you unfamiliar with Quarter Bears, they came out around the turn of the millennium, when the 50 state quarters were being minted and distributed. Each little teddy bear represents a U.S. state, is a different color, and has a little pocket for holding the quarter that represents its state. Since I was born, was raised, and currently live in Maryland, I purchased the Maryland bear decades ago and inserted a Maryland quarter, with the State House design visible, into its pocket. It is fuzzy, black in color, and has the iconic Maryland flag embroidered on its back. Looking at it gives me a sense of state pride.

Then there is Roary, who is a Beanie Baby lion. Remember the Beanie Baby craze of the 1990s? I did not rush out and buy all of them (some of them sold for outrageous prices), but I told myself that I had to have just one. I chose Roary because the lion is my favorite animal, and I paid a reasonable price for him. Sometimes I have to laugh at myself when I look at him because he reminds me of how I almost got sucked into the Beanie Baby fad (or perhaps I did get sucked into it).

Last, but not least, there is Garfield. Yes, as in the famous orange cat. He has been my favorite comic strip character since I was eight years old, and I collect all kinds of items with his likeness. (I even have a cloth Garfield mask, which was made for and worn during the COVID-19 pandemic.) The stuffed Garfield on my bookshelf wears a chef’s hat and an apron that reads, “I LOVE LASAGNA!” I obtained it in a Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Lake George, New York when I was about nine.

Do you have (or do you admit to having) stuffed animals in your workspace? What are they?