What It Is (posts below left; rate sheet, client list, other stuff below right)

My name is Bob Land. I am a full-time freelance editor and proofreader, and occasional indexer. This blog is my website.

You'll find my rate sheet and client list here, as well as musings on the life of a freelancer; editing, proofreading, and indexing concerns and issues; my ongoing battles with books and production; and the occasional personal revelation.

Feel free to contact me directly with additional questions: landondemand@gmail.com.

Thanks for visiting. Leave me a comment. Come back often.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Quote of the Day

From correspondence with an author, and the label for the post is a little deceiving, given that the author is in the UK:

"I think down-sizing is the way to go. However, it's really, really hard! We all want simpler lives, yet the complications of getting to that point leave one's mind boggling!"


Words I Never Expected to Type in an Index

zombie apocalypse

Monday, August 17, 2015

Damn Overachievers

He's known for his charitable works and activism (although I also seem to remember stories about some domestic abuse against Darryl Hannah), and many of the Eagles' more tolerable songs are his, but how the hell do you write such lyrics as those below at age 16?

[Lyrics reflect Nico's version on her first album. She and the songwriter were an item back in those days, when he was all of 18 and she was in her post-Velvet Underground period.]

"These Days" (Jackson Browne)
Arranged by John Cale; backing musicians: John Cale and Lou Reed

I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking these days
These days
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to

I stopped my rambling
I don't do too much gambling these days
These days 
These days I seem to think about
How all the changes came about my way
And I wonder if I'll see another highway

I had a lover
I don't think I'll risk another these days
These days
And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
It's just that I've been losing so long

La . . . la . . . la . . . 

I stopped my dreaming
I won't do too much scheming these days
These days
These days I sit on cornerstones
And count the time the quarter turns to ten

Please don't confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them



Monday, August 10, 2015

More APA Rage

White
Black
New York, NY in Biblio
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press
353-365

Makes a body appreciate Chicago, IL

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Smart and Dumber

I am constantly amazed at what some otherwise highly educated people think passes for correct punctuation.

The authors whose books I read for theological and university presses are supposed to be experts in their fields. Said authors didn't get that way, one presumes, by watching Wheel of Fortune while pounding Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

They've read books and scholarly articles. Lots of them.

So, when writing their own, why do they flaunt the most basic of grammatical standards?

I'm working on a book now in which the author routinely puts punctuation inside close parentheses that should appear outside of it. A few examples follow, with some words changed to protect the guilty:

Some institutions prefix a letter or two to denote the type of image, and some have a code number unique to the donor (especially if they are repeat donors.)

A private lender was anxious about placing his historic firearms in the museum for a required six-month period (the usual display time for firearms is no more than three months.) 

Always leave a note in it’s [sic] place stating: 1) what it is; 2) the date it was removed; 3) the reason it was removed (e.g. for a loan, photography, conservation;) and 4) the approximate date of return. Imagine seeing a note that simply states “Object Taken” (as has been seen.)

Make sure your doors have weather-stripping, sweeps and thresholds (gaskets,) and block all other small areas of possible insect entry.

Do these examples suffice? Imagine 142 pages of this style. Thankfully the volume is short.

The point of the post is that I don't understand how multiple-degreed, professional people who are highly respected in their fields can write sentences as if they're unfamiliar with the concept. 

Another example, which I see frequently enough to drive me to distraction -- and a form of which also resides buried somewhere in this blog -- is

"Where did my car go," Jim wondered?

My question has always been, "Has this author ever seen another publication present punctuation in this way? How can this even look correct, even from a visual standpoint?" 

I guess that's the case if someone has spent a lot of time reading. There are other ways to make it in the world.

. . . Not that I'm familiar with them. I'd say I'm open to suggestions, but at this point I'm pretty untrainable, and you don't want me in your workplace. Not if anyone there likes microwave popcorn.