Thursday, March 31, 2011

R.I.P.?

When a writer's bio reads like an obit: "After learning electronics in the U.S. Navy in the 1980s, xxx spent a lifetime in the construction industry..."

Maybe it just felt that way.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sleepediting

You know that horrifying experience of driving in the middle of the night, suddenly waking up after you've fallen asleep for a second or two, and then realizing that you might have just driven through a red traffic light you can see in your rear-view mirror.

In that vein, I just woke up to the sight of the approval screen of an article on how to change the combination on a Master Lock. I need to reread it; I have no recollection of editing it.

Shiver me timbers

First article edited today: "How to Make Your Own Sword Cleaning Kit."

I picked it in honor of Edit Like a Pirate Day.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

In a nutshell

One of my fellow copy editors for Demand Media pretty much captures what it's like to edit bad writing:

"Today, I wish my job were to tell writers what's right about their articles, instead of what's wrong. Then I could just say 'Nothing,' and move on."

Friday, March 25, 2011

From TitleBot mania to Storyville

Wherein I transform the work of article title writers into a summary of a short short story.

These (actual) titles were in my queue today at the same time (all "Thanks but No Thanks" titles, not selected): How to Put a Hole in a Rock, How to Live Without a Lawnmower, Places to Buy a Single Red Rose, How Can I Make a Family Tree Look Like a Tree?

A poor, tortured loner with an aversion to lawn care escapes into his secret world in a boulder, where he soon meets his maker. His sister, the lone survivor of the family and known for her inability to even draw a stick figure, sets a solitary rose in a vase on her desk as she begins the task of putting to paper a diagram of the family's lineage.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

DIY projects rule

"Building your own barbecue can give you the look of a professionally made grill without the expense."

I'm there; I always wanted to look like a pro grill.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Unintended consequences

‎From a DIY article: "Adding stain to a wooden beam after distressing it with other materials can give you an old weathered look."

This is most likely not the result the homeowner is looking for.

Monday, March 21, 2011

"John Deere" makes my blacklist

For a while, I was selecting articles about JD products. Many of them were written by a woman who included the following note with each article: "the [yes, lowercase] second reference is my husband who is a service manager at a John Deere dealership with 15 years of experience. He gave me the additional information not found in the manuals."

He did not, however, give her guidance on run-on sentences and the basic rules of punctuation and capitalization. I tried in several notes to her included with my rewrite requests. Fail.

To paraphrase the Soup Nazi, "no more John Deere for you!"

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Baby steps

When I send an article back to the writer with a rewrite request, he has four days to resubmit. If he doesn't, the article expires but I still get paid for my work on it.

This is from the writer's bio in an expired article: "[Mr. Expired] is a freelance writer and began writing at the age of 18."

Kind of a late start, wouldn't you say. Apparently he hasn't learned how to rewrite yet.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Lefties left in the lurch

As someone who writes and shoots pool lefty (slightly ambidextrous), I protest in the harshest terms possible the right-handedness bias of many writers.

I always change "hold the xx with your right hand and twist it with your left hand," for example, to "hold the xx with one hand and twist it with the other hand." Just sayin'.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

From a Mr. Wordy article

"Some people may discover when they forget their combination that they cannot find where they stored the information sheet that came with the lock that had the combination on it."

That was painful, wasn't it.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Writer's comments

Article writers often include comments to us copy editors if they feel that doing so would help us in some way.

Another Mr. Obvious (and there are so many) carries on that proud tradition in his writer's comments for "Landscaping for Above Ground Swimming Pools." He wrote, "I just wrote about what I would do when landscaping around a pool."

I don't know how I could have proceeded without that context.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Discriminatory title of the day

‎"Above Ground Garden Plans": How about the subterranean gardeners? What are they, chopped liver?

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Bad writers will be the death of me.

From an article on troubleshooting a refrigerator: ‎"if the ice maker is not fulfilling both of these responsibilities"

There's nothing worse than an irresponsible ice maker.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011