Friday, September 24, 2010

Unnecessary Q Marks Dept.

Recent BBC headline (I see air quotes): Twin blasts in Baghdad 'kill 23'

Not actually killed? Not 23 people? What?

Search engine minimization

Article title: "How to Loose 13 Pounds in 68 Days"

Putting aside "loose," where in the world do those numbers come from? Is there a person alive who would have those specific weight-loss goals? Search engine minimization if I've ever seen it.

Echo Writing

An article I edited contains: "It also has a veggie burger as a vegetarian option. It also has a veggie burger."

I'd suggest a piece of Wrigley Doublemint gum as a refreshing chaser after the burger.

Not a good sign

The first article I opened up to edit this morning begins with, ‎"Loosing weight around your stomach . . . " And so my Friday begins.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

"I'd rather be sailing"

No doubt you've seen that expression on bumper stickers.

Well guess what, mateys, you can do just that while you're playing golf. So throw your block and tackle and other nautical gear into your golf bag, because according to an article on golf terms that I just edited (and returned to the author for a rewrite), golf courses can "contain oceans."

Just think of it, you'll be able to yell "fore" and "hard alee" during your next "good walk spoiled," as golf has been called. The article, which was filled with errors, scored a hole in one (i.e., the bottom of a 1-5 scale).

Thursday, September 9, 2010

A writer with low self-esteem?

I edited an article today that had "Asso." as the abbrev. for Association. Fitting.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Another Title Fail

I passed on this one in my queue for online article editing:

"The Calories Burned When Swimming in a 25-Foot Pool"

It must be written for readers who are members of teeny tiny itsy bitsy aquatic facilities.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

"Everywhere like such as"

She's right up there with the countless writers who don't know the difference between "like" and "such as." I am astounded by how many there are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Self-interest vs. self-plagiarism

One of the "gatekeeping" responsibilities I have for the online article editing I do is to look out for writers who self-plagiarize and report them to the company.

When I first started this work, I took that responsibility seriously. And then I realized how much time it took, and the extent to which it could impact my hourly earnings.

Therefore, I never pick two very similar titles within roughly 24 hours. No doubt that writers grab them to make their work easier, and any self-respecting self-plagiarist would be a fool not to do the same.

I'm more interested in maximizing my income than I am in wasting time to determine whether someone appears to be guilty of S-P, and then having an internal debate about morality and my responsibilities.

White

Call me a rebel, but I'll continue to wear my white T-shirts in my home office after Labor Day.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

I love the smell of an Expired in the morning.

I have two options for the articles that I edit online: edit and approve for publication, or edit and return to the writer with a detailed rewrite request.

If a writer receives a rewrite request, he has four days in which to comply. If the article isn't returned to my queue by the deadline, it has expired. I do, however, receive payment for having worked on it. The writer does not.

Every once in a while an article is so bad, and the rewrite request effectively asks the writer to start over, that he abandons it. This is often my hope; I simply don't want to spend another minute on an article that isn't likely to be much better the second time around.

I checked my queue and list of "Reviewed Work" this morning. My hope was realized: an Expired.


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Brotherhood of the Frayed Pants

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the last day of my final full-time position.

In countless ways, as previously described here in excruciating detail, being the senior editor in that particular proposal center was the worst editing job I've ever had.

I worked there for 20 months but knew within a few after starting that it was a bagfull of wrong. The question was how long I'd last.

I set my target resignation date to roughly coincide with my retirement in terms of Social Security, and my plan to have in place freelance editing work to supplement my SS income.

That done, the next decision was how to "mark" my progress toward September 2.

Some people fast until whatever, others don't shave or cut their hair. I chose a haberdashery approach. Specifically, I decided to wear the same pair of pants every day for the roughly 12 months leading up to the Last Day.

The fact that they, and I, made it, albeit somewhat worse for the wear, is a tribute to will power, tenacity, and fine craftsmanship.