Lockdown is the time to write your first novel, they say, but I missed the boat. I spent the beginning of it finishing the CIEP Medical Editing Course – and then needed cheering up because I missed the crew I did it with, and though we weren’t locked down anymore, by that point EVERYTHING wasContinue reading “Steering the Craft”
Category Archives: books
Write No Matter What
Now seemed like a good time to read this book, which a colleague recommended. And it was. It’s a very easy read. The style is anecdotal, the argument clear, and the evidence is there, but worn lightly – just as well, as the author says this is how academics should write nonfiction for a widerContinue reading “Write No Matter What”
Bad English?
Whose English is right? It’s rather more than just you say po-tay-to, I say po-tah-to… Who decides? The native speakers? Native of where (not just the US or UK, what about Canada, or Kerala?) What happens when the native speakers go native? (Language attrition is real.) Just as everyone is a foreigner almost everywhere, ifContinue reading “Bad English?”
First you write a sentence
When I started editing, I really needed help with the US style guides. Brits (except Scots) don’t learn the rules of our common language like Americans do. We are much more likely to make style choices because “it just feels right” and don’t really know why. The Chicago Manual of Style offers “workouts” to testContinue reading “First you write a sentence”
Writing about writing
As an academic translator and editor, I have a lot of books about writing. Here are just a few. I will be writing about some of my favourite books about writing here. Watch this space! And if you read or wrote a great book about writing, let me know.
Ridge Writing Retreats 