Quick Fox Editing

So you’ve got a book idea … what next?

Ideas for taking your book idea and turning it into a working concept and ultimately a written book.
Proofreading or copyediting – what’s the difference?

Proofreading, copyediting, structural or substantive editing, developmental editing … what’s the difference among them all?
Cookbooks – a different flavour of technical editing

Editing and proofreading cookbooks needs a terrier-like nose for inconsistencies, such as ingredient names, measurements and conversions, and how the methods are phrased.
6 secrets to getting published

Wouldn’t it be wondering if there was a secret password, or magic code, or mystic gatekeeper who you could invoke, so your work would be picked up by a major publisher?
How to start a story … or how to beat writer’s block

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to attend some sessions at the 2019 Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, my hometown. Working freelance from home means you sometimes feel you’re working in isolation, so seeing and hearing from so many talented people about their work and the writing process is somewhat of a gift – a reminder…
Editing helpers and why I love them

For years, I’ve worked either using track changes in MS Word manuscripts or editing directly into InDesign or Quark files (remember Quark, anyone?), copyfitting as I went. In fact, most of my inhouse work was in InDesign because the designers would drop in the raw text from the author, leave overmatter on the pasteboard, insert…
What inspires me to edit

Keeping inspired helps me to focus on a fast-approaching deadline, or to rekindle my passion for editing after a lengthy assignment or long run of jobs. Anyone who thinks that Christmas time means a holiday for freelancers has never been a freelancer! This can be one of my busiest times, as people shift things off…
When to stop revising your novel

The writing process can sometimes seem never-ending. You write draft after draft, revision after revision. When will you know you’re ready to birth your creation? Or at least, to show it to that all-important fresh set of eyes?