Learning, always learning ...

It has been an interesting, busy couple of weeks getting started at university doing my post-grad studies (in writing, editing and publishing) and really getting my freelance work underway. I have put up a website for my new venture at http://www.write-now.com.au/ and it already seems to be paying dividends. Hooray for that!

I have been doing some very different editing to that which I am used to, with different style guides and different audiences in mind. I have learned so much already and I am really loving it.

One of my courses this semester is an elective. For this I have managed to get myself an internship helping out with the SHARP conference that will be running in Brisbane in April. SHARP stands for the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing. The conference site is here: http://uqsharp2011.squarespace.com/.

At the moment I am working my way through the abstracts and giving them a bit of a tidy up prior to going to publication. I must admit to just about salivating at the papers that are going to be delivered: some of the material is simply fascinating. I shall have a problem deciding which one to pick to write an essay on at the end!

I have been using the Chicago Manual of Style for this which is online: I have signed up for a 30-day free trial and it is a brilliant resource. I must have half-a-dozen style guides on my book shelves at least but not this particular one. I had better subscribe I think! And I do like using it online instead of dragging dusty tomes down from the shelf every five minutes.

Other than that I have a new book coming in this week to edit - economics!

Better get organised and head off to class!

Camaraderie among the wordsmiths

Yesterday I had my first lecture as part of the Writing, Editing and Publishing course I am undertaking at the University of Queensland. I have enrolled to do a Graduate Diploma but depending on the time and tides I may well carry on and complete my Masters.

I decided to do this because I felt my writing had become much neglected in the last few years as an editor of an online political journal. I felt I had become “pigeon-holed”. Admittedly I do have a formidable range of contacts among Australia’s commentariat now but I wanted to reach out and do more with the written word.

After our first lecture last night many of us decamped to West End for the first WEP dinner of the semester. One of the really good things about this course, and one of the main reasons it appealed to me, was the networking and camaraderie among the course participants. Just talking to the course convenor, Ros Petelin, before Christmas made me realise that she is the lynch pin in a tightly knit group of like-minded and passionate people.

And camaraderie there definitely was. I sat chatting and listening to other editors and writers and realised that we have many things in common: a passion for the language; a passion for communication; for story telling; and for the minutiae (which I touched on in my previous blog post, “The mind of an editor”).

“I love manuals” said the lady next to me. She just happens to be the lecturer for one of my courses. “I get so much pleasure from seeing a well rounded, complete, beautiful looking manual, well titled and organised …” (or words to that effect).

Yeh, I got that. I understood.

So did the lady on the other side of me. She reckoned she was going to re-write the manual for the new Kenwood steam mop she just bought recently because it was so appalling. And send it to them to show it how it should be done.

And I have to admit I have been in the habit of sending emails to real estate companies correcting their “newslatters”. I know, I know. But I just can’t help myself!

Of course all this studying is a wonderful luxury and if I manage to find a job that is permanent before the uni census date then I won’t be able to indulge myself. Bills must be paid. But in the meantime I have found a group of like-minded individuals out there and it is most refreshing.

As an aside I have set up my own freelance writing and editing business called Write-now! You can find the website here: http://www.write-now.com.au/. Do contact me if you need some work done. I am happy to quote.