I'm editing a nonfiction ms right now and have become quite obsessed. Obsession is necessary, when in full copyedit mode. I'm merciless with dangling participles, subject-verb agreement, anarchic capitalization, questionable italics and quotemarks, so on and so forth. My 15th Edition of the Chicago Manual of Style is getting a workout.
And here's a photo for the season, taken by ice-climber William McConachie. It's the Sierras, not the Rockies, but I can dream... And look at those leaden skies!
photo credit: William McConachie
No! And misplaced modifiers? Ellipses? How about sentence fragments?? Redundant punctuation???
ReplyDeleteLOL.
Dani
http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com
I better be careful how I phrase this, since you're in that editor mode - I'm giving you a Your blog is Fabulous Award Monday at
ReplyDeletehttp://makeminemystery.blogspot.com
Morgan Mandel
Awesome picture. We're expecting freezing rain here in Texas all day tomorrow. Wish it was going to be snow!
ReplyDeleteLoved the picture! Sounds like you have a lot of things on your plate this year. Here's to great success with them!
ReplyDeleteI love the textural quality of this photo. The mist-and-snow-covered trees really lend a dreamy sense to the scene.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your editing, Ann, and congrats on Morgan's "Your blog is Fabulous Award"! I felt like I spent all last year editing various projects, and writing a brand-spanking-new short story is how I'm celebrating the new year. We got 8 inches of snow yesterday here in the foothills of Colorado Springs, BTW.
ReplyDeleteThe picture is breathtaking! I can feel the sting of cold air on my cheeks.
ReplyDeleteShari
Great title, Ann, and great picture to illustrate what that means!
ReplyDeleteHappy Blogging
Heidi
Hi Ann,
ReplyDeleteMerciless is a great word for good copyediting.
Best wishes,
Lael
Great blog. I'm visiting as part of the blogger group, and I'm hooked. Can't wait to read more about your work. And great photos. All best, Lucia
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your "Fabulous" award. Do you use a style sheet for your editing projects?
ReplyDeleteWhoops! See what happens when I get caught up in things and time slides by??
ReplyDeleteI feel like I just walked into a party at the eleventh hour . . . and it's at MY house! :-}
Thank you, Morgan. I'm heading over to check out your blog. Hmmm. I'm wondering now how to respond to everyone in short order.
Hey, Dani, I'm a shameless indulger in ellipses. And sentence fragments. I love (love! love!) redundant punctuation. Carefully used.
And thanks, all, for the nice words on the photo. I'm trying to get this McConachie fellow to set up a "photo blog." Let's see if I can convince him after he sees the lovely comments about his work.
Hello Bob!
ReplyDeleteI just had to click on your photo to get a closer look at the image. Lovely colors. Is it the cover to your book?
Anyhow, in answer to your question (and I see you are a fellow technical writer! ---secret handshake follows here--- ), different projects have different style guides. Where one isn't specified, I tend to go with Chicago (since it's most widely used. Well, seems to be, anyway). I do keep a running list of styles on a given project, when they prove problematic.