Declaring that the business of expert publishing and knowledge curation is under attack is hardly breaking news. What is alarming is that not only is the use of artificial intelligence part of the problem, it is also limited in its usefulness as [ read more ]

I must be mad. What the hell possessed me? I read the call for speakers from the Chartered Institute for Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) for their 2026 annual conference, and began thinking dangerous thoughts about ‘shaking things up a bit’ and ‘raising [ read more ]

I always feel a little sad when the Easter break comes to an end – I generously gave myself time off working from the whole of Good Friday through to Easter Monday, and just enjoyed the great outdoors and spring sunshine. It’s [ read more ]

Not only is Sunday 8 March the UN International Women’s Day, it is also National Proofreading Day in the USA!

I am going to insist on receiving an extra big dollop of respect from my other half on Sunday as I waft through [ read more ]

You can call off the search now – I’ve resurfaced. Yeah, as if you were worried …

I’ve had a pleasingly full work diary over the past few months, so I feel the need to reconnect with the world beyond my desk and [ read more ]

Saturday 20 September is the first day of the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and I’m really looking forward to mingling with my fellow freelance editors and attending some inspiring sessions. First on [ read more ]

I’m always thankful for yet another solid month of full booking, but whole days have gone by and I have barely left the house. I have gazed for hours out of my home office window at people strolling past in the hot [ read more ]

Since going freelance, it has become harder to justify attending publishing industry conferences – networking and learning opportunities aside, the return on investment has to be pretty much guaranteed before I’ll even consider booking my place, and even then it is the [ read more ]

I have never understood people’s reluctance to use punctuation – correctly or not. It is the scaffolding that supports meaning and intention, and separates sloganeers from communicators. Pairing down punctuation may seem sleek and machine-friendly, but it sacrifices nuance.

Commas seem especially vulnerable, [ read more ]

Very often I find that much of what happens in scholarly publishing floats unnoticed over my head, as I sigh and chase yet another late payment from a company that couldn’t give two hoots about my cashflow.

But lately, there have been blogs [ read more ]