Proofreading/Copyediting

I grew up in a grammar-intensive household in rural New York. If any of the five children used bad grammar, he (rarely she) had to put a penny in a special jar Mom set up. We were only making a dime allowance then, so that poor penny represented ten percent of our income. I’ve been aware since early girlhood that, right or wrong, people are judged by their language. This is particularly so in the written word.

I’ve been a typesetter since 1973. That was “cold type,” not hand-set or Linotype. I worked at various ma-and-pa shops. My most recent job was designing and typesetting ads (“formatting”) in America’s largest junkmail factory. It was the first job that had official proofreaders. Until then, we typesetters always proofread our own work. I corrected the text along the way, as I typed. It was simply natural. Clients have thanked me for my meticulous — not to say obsessive-compulsive — attention to their complicated punctuation.

I’m a mighty reader, of course, and in addition to novels, my shelves hold several books on grammar and language just because it’s fun and interesting to me. I belong to a writers’ group but what really blows my hair back is proofreading and copyediting. That’s almost embarrassing. It’s so librarianesque. But there it is.

Of course I use Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition, and The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. I prefer the serial comma but can be talked into dropping it, in extreme cases, if you don’t mind my pouting first.

Since stepping out on my own, I’ve edited the Rev. Loretta Pickford’s workbook, Stop the Chaos. I helped my art car buddy, Sonny Fenwick, put together his first children’s book, The Bubble Truck Goes to the Moon, and we’re already working on the second one. The Little Bastard Won’t Bite ... and everything else your pet sitter needs to know by Liz Armstrong came to me for editing and typesetting (er ... formatting). I also designed the covers and interior, and prepared the files to be sent to the printer. The copyediting I did on Shonda’s second novel, She Slipped and Fell, was so to her liking that she’s already secured my services for her third book.

Please email me or call. Let’s talk about your project.