20Sep

Oh, the places you’ll go with ACES in your editing life

Against a burgundy wine fabric background, items from ACES 2016 are spread out. An ACES 2016 tote bag, a black Olympus digital recorder, a pair of blue sunglasses, a copy of Bill Walsh's "Lapsing Into a Comma," an iPhone with the cover of the ACES 2016 program and schedule showing, a pen on top of a notebook on which notes have been jotted down from the session titled "Sexist Creeps: How to Catch and Fix Sexist Language," and one of several sheets from a session titled, "Sweat This, Not That."

Have you ever wondered, “Why is this an English language rule? Is it still a rule?” If so, ACES might be a good fit for you.

16Sep

A podium? A lectern? Both? A detail worth sweating at all?

Football season makes me think about lecterns and podiums far more often than I’d like. Let me say this, then.

26Aug

Let’s talk about ‘unnecessary’ words

An April 25th screenshot from The New York Times shows a teaser with the headline: Follow the Funeral of Pope Francis. Under that are five headshots of people, presumably members of the paper's coverage team. Under the photos, there is this: The New York Times will have more than a dozen reporters and photographers on the ground in Rome covering the funeral of Pope Francis. Join us for live video, updates, images and analysis from St. Peter's Square on Saturday. Under that, in bold type, it says: Here's what to expect." There is an arrow indicating the reader should click there to find out more.

If you’re not careful, you can let cutting words from a story become its own moral good, one with diminishing returns.

21Mar

The one where I talk about the low self-esteem often wrought by neurodivergence

ADHD is spelled with four wooden blocks with letters. The background is blurred.

There’s a type of neurotypical person that has made me feel shitty my whole life. I’m done with them, the way I am with a lot of cis people.

17Dec

When I read somewhere that ‘a spokesman declined comment,’ I think, ‘What? It’s not tea’

Editors Tea Club mugs in front of a Wonder Woman movie soundtrack album purse.

Lest you get the idea that I don’t know how to be a cranky old-timer about words and how they are used, I have a treat for you.

13Dec

I have many thoughts about heavy-handed editing, especially that it feels so dreary

I think many who prefer to work that way have never had more inclusive, loving, liberating, conscious editing and writing modeled for them.

13Oct

Pro tip: The more you make the job about style, maybe even grammar, the easier it will be to lay you off

There are worlds where style and grammar are everything. This is not about them. This is about where there’s so much more editors must do.

12Oct

The best decision I ever made about my writing was also the easiest one

Don Draper said it in the “Mad Men” world of advertising: “Stop writing for other writers.” I heard it long before the show ever aired.

11Oct

Some of the most boring writing I’ve ever seen follows all the rules

Given a chance for a do-over in how I’ve done journalism, I’d probably want to break the rules even more often in my writing than I did.

03Oct

An editor friend said it best: Why encase the language in amber?

Let’s not freeze language in time. Let’s not try to encase it in amber.

CarlyJDubois.com

Tag: copy editing

Oh, the places you’ll go with ACES in your editing life

A podium? A lectern? Both? A detail worth sweating at all?

Let’s talk about ‘unnecessary’ words

The one where I talk about the low self-esteem often wrought by neurodivergence

When I read somewhere that ‘a spokesman declined comment,’ I think, ‘What? It’s not tea’

I have many thoughts about heavy-handed editing, especially that it feels so dreary

Pro tip: The more you make the job about style, maybe even grammar, the easier it will be to lay you off

The best decision I ever made about my writing was also the easiest one

Some of the most boring writing I’ve ever seen follows all the rules

An editor friend said it best: Why encase the language in amber?