Bridget Carrick

Freelance nonfiction copyeditor, proofreader, and book designer | maker of yogurt, knitted things, and rules of three | bi/pan | she/her

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

Not what I was expecting!

I was told early on in my career to query authors when there was a discrepancy in chapter lengths—albeit only when 1–3 stood out as way too long. (Again, only in nonfiction)

I'll still query, but this is good to know!

#AmEditing #WritingCommunity

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

I'm curious to see what people actually care about and notice while reading:

In nonfiction books, do you prefer chapters to be mostly the same length?

#WritingCommunity #AmEditing

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

I'm curious to see what people actually care about and notice while reading:

In nonfiction books, do you prefer chapters to be mostly the same length?

#WritingCommunity #AmEditing

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@JVA_writes Deal!

Puck and Pangur, 8 seconds after I heard a loud sound from around the corner.

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@RookwoodEditing That makes sense! First-letter caps is definitely in my top 5, but as a nonfiction editor, I use the Google and M-W macros by far the most.

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

There's a macro for that!

If you do repetitive tasks during your edit, a macro may shorten your keystroke count (& thus sanity).

e.g. One ms had way too many scare quotes. Then I found a macro that deletes nearby pairs of quotation marks (parentheses & brackets too)

#AmEditing

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

I just found another word that made me shudder during this new edit:

dialogue, as a verb.

As in, "Let's dialogue about [topic]."

Yikes 😬

#AmEditing #PetPeeves

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@EditorObscura A common fear for most editors. Thankfully, the adage that no one thinks about you as much as you do still holds!

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

One of the MANY reasons editing books is not the same as reading them.

#AmEditing

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

Editing can be surreal.

In the middle of editing an intense scene, I have to stop midhorror to verify if the phrase "party pooper" has a hyphen (it doesn't).

Then I enter it in my word list and go back to reading about someone's trauma.

Wild.

#AmEditing

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@frindley That sounds lovely! And so playful!

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

Question for fellow #freelancers and #edibuddies, what do you do during your quick breaks throughout your work day?

My breaks are starting to get too long again, and timers aren't always foolproof (e.g., I'll unload the dishwasher, but then I'll want to wash that pan...)

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

I'm not sure I've ever worked on a manuscript without some bizarre hidden code of paragraph marks and extra tabs and spaces.

But I actually enjoy the beginning clean up of copyediting!

It's like the small-talk phase of getting to know the ms before diving in.

#AmEditing

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@LauraBontje @ChicagoManual @amyjschn Agreed! I don't even edit fiction (though I do work on memoirs, which there's certainly crossover), but this was so helpful.

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

Lots of ellipses fixes today. My CMOS 13.50–58 is getting a workout today (because I will never have all these rules memorized).

#AmEditing

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@The_GrammarGeek Yep, I use it! Specifically for non-italicized, non-bold, non-underlined text (but not lowercase, that's lc)

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

"Rather than being authority figures, let's think of ourselves as subject experts."

I loved @LindsaySchopfer's "Developing Your Bedside Manner" from @EdsGuild's Red Pencil conference.

It's easy to forget how scared of editors writers can be! This was a helpful reminder.

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@lukefinleyedit Nope. Every editor I know has a list of struggle or second-guessing words !

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@jayist @lukefinleyedit Same!

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

@BexBookaholic I mean, the intention is spot on.

But some of those descriptors are a bit much? Like, chill out and let me buy books in peace?

[Bridget Carrick @bmcarrick]

Fully capable and educated copyeditors everywhere slowly sounding out words that are written in all caps like they're in first grade again—just to make sure they're being spelled correctly.

"DE-IN-STI-TU-TION-AL-I-ZA-TION"

I hate all caps.

#AmEditing