Professional communicators of Metafilter: Please give me your tips for handling subject matter experts who write poorly, but don't know it. When a colleague is adamant that their disorganised writing and grammatical errors Must Not Be Changed, how do you respond?
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posted by embrangled
on Mar 28, 2013 -
31 answers
I've been writing short fiction. I've got my process down pretty well, to the point that I am not getting stuck in writer's block hell or any other common pitfalls. I have ideas, and I'm capable of getting them down on paper. I revise them, I produce new drafts, etc.
My problem comes in the last phase of the process. I don't know when to say something is
done.
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posted by deathpanels
on Mar 21, 2013 -
11 answers
It's been almost 10 years since I last changed jobs and it's also been that long since I've written a resume. I'd like to get some (hopefully) expert opinion and editing to bring my resume up to date, both to reflect the skills/experience I've gained and ensure that it is in a format that will be acceptable to recruiters/companies. Has anyone used a resume service recently that you've been pleased with? (I'm located in the NYC metro area if that makes a difference).
posted by de void
on Feb 12, 2013 -
2 answers
Creating an index of first lines, from a group of many poems, each stored in a seperate .txt file. Are there any applications or scripts that would help me to do that?
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posted by dylan_k
on Dec 8, 2012 -
7 answers
How do you edit writing written in a different dialect than your own? I'm very soon going to be responsible for editing some English technical/business writing by a team in a highly multilingual south-Asian country.
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posted by TheNewWazoo
on Dec 2, 2012 -
10 answers
Remember editing text (I mean,
writing) with a pencil? Like you would as a teacher or senior editor correcting somebody else's manuscript?Can I do something like that on my Mac (10.5.8)? I've been using Preview to add highlights, notes and simple graphic elements, but what I want is...
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posted by dpcoffin
on Aug 8, 2012 -
3 answers
I'd like a career transition from an Assistant to copy-editor/editor. What steps can I take while holding this job to help me prepare to be competitive for the new type of job?
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posted by jymelyne
on Jun 5, 2012 -
9 answers
How can I make myself employable / find a job in any writing or editing fields, with a BA and MFA? (in the Atlanta area, if it helps.) Snowflakey details abound.
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posted by adrianna aria
on May 19, 2012 -
9 answers
[Career change filter, humanities edition] How can I best market my skills when I have very little experience?
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posted by Kitty Stardust
on Mar 28, 2012 -
5 answers
Habitually editing while I write, want to try free-writing and getting it all out, having difficulty: can I temporarily disable my backspace key in Microsoft Word?
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posted by NikitaNikita
on Mar 8, 2012 -
22 answers
My s.o. is applying for a medical residency in the US. We'll know where we're going to be placed in mid-March and chances are good that we'll end up in Baltimore, New Haven or Providence. I work in a field with very limited options in these three places and I'm wondering what I can do over the next few months, if anything, to prepare in case I have to move and get a new job.
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posted by anonymous
on Dec 27, 2011 -
11 answers
What are unnecessarily formal "academic jargon" type words that I should seek and destroy in my papers?
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posted by lollusc
on May 28, 2011 -
66 answers
I seem to be teetering on the edge of getting somewhere with my writing, but I'm not there yet. How can I learn to get a handle on pacing and characterization in my novels and short stories?
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posted by PhoBWanKenobi
on Dec 8, 2010 -
17 answers
After previously having worked in an editing capacity for four years, I miss the experience of editing and what it does for me as a writer. I'm interested in opportunities and ideas for part-time paid or perhaps even volunteer opportunities in the Philadelphia area doing editing.
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posted by Keter
on Nov 17, 2010 -
5 answers
Magazine editor for dummies? How can I quickly come to grips with journalist/editor basics? I have been offered a job as an editor but I have never done this sort of work before.
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posted by teststrip
on Jul 18, 2010 -
4 answers
Writing a book that will be self-published at the end of the summer. I have questions about writing, layout, self-publishing and more.
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posted by zenja72
on May 18, 2010 -
2 answers
Are there any websites that hook up editors with students willing to pay for paper-editing?
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posted by ollyolly
on Mar 17, 2010 -
8 answers
Scientists and other academics: Please advise on strategies for successful collaboration on large, technical Word documents.
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posted by Jacqueline
on Dec 28, 2009 -
18 answers
What are the best online and print/book resources for English language editors? Also, any current or past editors, do you have any knowledge, wisdom, tricks, hacks, for an editing newbie, which you would like to share? Thanks.
posted by barrakuda
on Dec 14, 2009 -
10 answers
How do you write for your blog? I'm just starting out and would like to know how others approach writing and editing ...and maybe if there is a secret Bloggers Bible no one's told me about?
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posted by anonymous
on Aug 14, 2009 -
22 answers
Where might I find real-life examples of 300-700-word pieces of prose that are neither perfect nor unsalvageable — "problematic," let's say — on which I can practice the craft of editing?
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posted by colinmarshall
on Aug 7, 2009 -
25 answers
I need a recommendation for an instructional book on putting together a memoir. I already have a good portion of it written. The area I need help with is what to do with the various experiences that I've written about. Right now it's a bunch of stories with a central theme. I need to pull it together and make it a book in other words.
posted by adfeb
on Mar 1, 2009 -
2 answers
Will I ever be able to draw an excellent marginal brace without going to graduate school?
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posted by fantine
on Feb 10, 2009 -
20 answers
In search of collaborative editing software -- online (cloud) preferred -- for a small/medium-sized news department.
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posted by anonymous
on Jan 9, 2009 -
4 answers
I'm very interested in becoming an editor, please help...yes, I've read the previous posts.
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posted by nikksioux
on May 16, 2008 -
33 answers
I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Always wanted… but never actually worked towards it, so I have no writing-specific experience or training. I’d like to transition to a career that somehow involves writing, but I’m not sure how I can get my foot in the door.
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posted by Metroid Baby
on Feb 29, 2008 -
12 answers
I am applying to grad school. The deadline is approaching. Where can I go to get my letter of intent (personal statement) read and critiqued?
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posted by iamkimiam
on Oct 24, 2007 -
16 answers
Can you think of any examples of "disjointed" writing -- writing with abrupt transitions -- that works? Faulkners Sound and Fury is a good example but shorter pieces are better for my purposes. Can be fiction or non-fiction.
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posted by Aghast.
on Sep 27, 2006 -
17 answers
Has anyone vastly improved -- or just changed -- someone else's already published writing by editing?
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posted by callmejay
on Aug 30, 2006 -
25 answers
I'm a professional writer and book editor. I'd like to buy an Apple Mini and at long last get out of the grips of Microsoft. This means I want to use Pages as well. Does anyone have experience converting from Word to Pages.?
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posted by partner
on Jul 19, 2006 -
16 answers
Show me the way to other writing critique web sites, where there are red-lined drafts of writing samples, or even better, rewrites of less-than-stellar writing.
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posted by Khalad
on Jun 5, 2006 -
10 answers
Career change advice sought! Help me make the switch to editing/publishing.
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posted by Miko
on Apr 14, 2006 -
5 answers
Does anyone have any experience or first-hand knowledge about working for the
AcademicWord company? Is it a legitimate operation or is it too good to be true? I'm confident I have the skills, do they pay their bills? (MI)
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posted by loquacious
on May 23, 2005 -
2 answers
I want to be a better writer, but I don't like laboring over every sentence until what I was trying to communicate is dead, dead, dead. How do you self-edit for your website, memos, or letters?
posted by pomegranate
on Jun 17, 2004 -
45 answers
