It’s a good thing I’m not working in-house anymore. I’ve been far too busy lately to look busy. Those of you who have worked in corporate environments know what I’m talking about: You can spend an awful lot of time and effort looking busy instead of getting things done. There …
I’ve never been happy with the look of my website, shortishard.ca. Yet, I’ve never needed to update it, because I get all my work through referrals, word of mouth or my monthly column, Ask Dr Editor. In 2021, though, things are going to change: I’m hiring an undergraduate student to …
There’s a short paragraph in Budget 2018 that didn’t garner much buzz last year. But it holds hope for women-owned companies that want a bigger piece of the roughly $20 billion annual federal market. As part of boosting the overall number of female-run firms in this country, the Government of …
I have been retired, or semi-retired, for almost a decade now. My career as a freelance writer and editor has gradually given way to new and different pursuits. But recently, a couple of projects for pay showed up in my inbox, and I succumbed. One was related to local history, …
I went freelance at the start of 1993, working from my house in Dublin. I didn’t have a computer till midway through that year — work arrived at first by courier or in the mail, on paper. I had some reference books and, if I was lucky, a publisher’s style …
Being a freelancer is hard. When clients don’t have work for you, you cease to exist for them even though your livelihood depends on them or on people like them. You need to be a team player, but often you will be dropped from the team abruptly when a project …
The prevailing orthodoxy in online editors’ groups, I have noticed, is one of huge respect for, and empathy with, the author. The author is king/queen. We, as editors, primarily serve the author’s vision, the author’s voice. However, in my own work (both in-house and freelance, primarily as a copyeditor of …
It’s 2008. After graduating from university the year before, I have a soul-sucking job with a company of dubious morals. However, it’s the Great Recession and beggars can’t be choosers. I feel stuck, sad and like I’m drowning. Maybe I should get back into writing, I think. Online, I find …
On Facebook recently, a colleague reported being the victim of a phone hijacking. You might recognize the feeling. A potential client calls to ask about editing services and then spends the better part of an hour telling her story with barely a breath between sentences, leaving you with no room …
One of the downsides of freelance editing is that you’re not there (wherever “there” may be) to explain your thinking on occasions when it might be appropriate to do so. Furthermore, you’re probably unaware that such occasions have even arisen. When I had in-house jobs, I learned a lot from …