Ego-Dystonic Thoughts

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you’re minding your own business and suddenly your brain presents you with a horrible image of something terrible happening? Or even of you actually doing something terrible to yourself or someone else? Well, don’t worry – because you’re not alone – and it doesn’t mean you’re […]

Weeknotes – S08E05 – Feelings vs Evidence

Summary: It feels like I’m really not getting anywhere so far this year – with paid work or with my own projects. I know intellectually this isn’t true (I’m plugging steadily away at everything, even if I’m not exactly where I want to be) but it’s still the way it feels…   Monday: I felt […]

Weeknotes – S08E04 – Sprint and Rest

Summary: Strong start to the week, with both paid editing work and my own projects – I front-loaded everything so I could have some time off in the second half, which was nice.   Monday: Busy, busy day today… I spent the morning on my two current client novels – a queer drama and a […]

Professional Development

When I first started out as a freelance editor, back in April 2021, all the other editors I spoke to recommended joining the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders (CIEP).   I duly looked into and and it seemed: Expensive (membership fees, upgrade fees, course fees) Complicated (tracking work experience and fulfilling CPD requirements) Time […]

Weeknotes – Back to Reality…

Summary: The writing retreat was both more and less successful than I’d hoped – but still a lovely way to start the year! Now I really need to get back into a proper work mindset to get back to paid editing…   Monday: I started my third full day on Urban Writers Retreat by going […]

Setting the Smallest Goal

Do you ever find that you set your expectations on yourself too high? The humans I know always seem to be so busy, always trying to get so much done in the shortest possible time. But that just makes them feel overwhelmed by their to-do list and then they feel like failures when they don’t […]

Weeknotes – S08E01 – Hurrah for Retreats!

Summary: Re-starting paid work for 2024 went a bit awry but lots of novel revision planning done on retreat!   Wednesday: It was back to work today with a new publisher client, copy editing a ‘based-on-a-true-story’ contemporary novel. I was at my desk like a proper worker bee by 9am – and did a little […]