I'm sorry, but you are describing exactly the kind of work I do, and I can't
see that a client would have any reason to care *when* you make the changes
provided the required changes get made. I make numerous passes through the
documents I work on, and I find more mistakes every time. No one can see
everything at once, and I don't think anyone expects you to. Most
instructions I've read actually stipulate that you make several passes. And
I have to say that I read a lot of published books where there is no
evidence that any editor made even one pass, much less several. I recently
proofread the page proofs of a book to be published by Random House (which
had been copyedited and proofread by their editors), and the author (for
whom I was performing the work) and I were equally appalled by the number of
errors I found. I wouldn't care how many times the editor had to read the ms
or backtrack in it provided the errors were corrected.
FWIW, it's also true that the more corrections there are to be made, the
more passes it's going to take. You just can't see everything at once. And a
lot of things you aren't going to know are "errors" till much later. In the
book I'm currently working on, there are stupefyingly thorough bios of two
of the characters early on; neither mentions any military service (or allows
any space in the timeline for it). Several chapters later, they're talking
about their army experiences in Iraq. Another character, a nurse, is shy on
one page and bold on the next (she actually vacillates throughout the book).
Those are just a few of the problems. As it happens, I've about given up on
this book, which the author is self-publishing; I finally decided I'd done
all I could reasonably do, and if the author thinks it's done, I'll just
call it done. I don't think he'll sell more than a couple of dozen copies no
matter how much we polish it, anyway. g
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site:
http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
"redpencilgirl" wrote in message
...
Without giving actual examples, it's hard to give you an idea of what I
mean
here, so let's say that the author of a manuscript I'm editing creates a
character named Frank. He's Frank from page 1 to page 72, but on page 73,
he
suddenly becomes Fred. Only I'm sort of distracted by the author's
annoying
habit of putting three exclamation points at the end of every sentence, so
I
don't notice that he's Fred until page 175. So now I go back to page 73
(having searched for "Fred" and discovered that that was where the name
first
appeared).
Anyone looking at my changes will be able to see that I made the
Fred/Frank
change three days (or however long it has been) after the other changes --
deleting of exclamation points, suggestions about ambiguous language,
grammar
corrections -- made on the same page. And while my imperfect eye is
something I should be aware of (because being aware of it will make me a
better editor), it is NOT something I need to show my clients...or that,
really, they have any need to know.
Does that make it any clearer why this is so important to me?
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
FWIW, your clients don't have to know when you have changed your mind:
just
reject the change. Or accept it, turn Track Changes off and change it
back,
then turn Track Changes on again.
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.
"redpencilgirl" wrote in
message
...
In Word 2002 for Windows XP (and apparently in other newer versions of
Word
as well), rolling the mouse over a Track Changes balloon turns up the
name
of
the person who made the change or comment, along with the date and
time
the
change or comment was made. Currently I can choose the privacy option
"Remove personal information from file properties on save" and have my
name
replaced with the anonymous term "author" -- however, I cannot opt to
remove
the date and time. I believe that information about date and time is
personal, too, and I feel strongly that I should have the option to
take
it
out.
Here is the situation: I am a freelance editor, and my clients would
like
me to make my changes using the Track Changes option instead of the
old-fashioned way (on paper with a red pencil). I don't mind helping
them
out that way -- I'm all for going electronic whenever possible -- but
I DO
mind that the electronic document will suddenly provide them with
information
that was never available to them in the paper version: for example,
that
I
often work late into the night, or that I often change my mind about a
correction I have made and go back later to revise it. As long as I
make
my
deadlines, my clients do not need to know when I made my changes and
comments
-- they only need to know that the changes and comments have been
made.
Please help...thanks!
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