Putt Putt Productions' Soap Box....

Long Time Protester! First Time Marcher!

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:21:59 GMT

Hi, my name is Rachel. I'm a long time protester, but first time marcher!

On Saturday, November 15, 2008, I joined my friends and several thousand others across the United States to march for marriage equality. We were in LA, the area between City Hall and the LA Times building. There were many speakers at the event. Alec Mapa was the MC. Mayor Villaraigosa gave a speech in English and Spanish. Rev. Eric Lee of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was there and have a speech. Several LA Council members, Rocky Gelgadillo, the prosecutor gave a speech. Lucy Lawless gave a speech. I saw Pauley Perrette (Abby from NCIS) making her way through the crowd.

Some of the chants included:
2,4,6,8!
We just want to stop the H8!

Whaddo we want?
Equal Rights!
When do we want it?
Now!

This was an incredible event, almost too much to write about coherently. You can read more about the different rallies all over the US on Towleroad.

This was to be a nationwide, and even global wide, protest of Prop. 8 and other laws like it. I am proud of the Angelenos who showed their support no matter what the orientation. One woman spoke about how the proposition basically nullified her entire family - her two gay dads and lesbian mother, as well as her sister, are not considered a family. Yet, they raised her. Her mother was more worried about whether or not she’d be hurt at the protest than what the protest was about - just like any mother. Her fathers, like any parents, took she and her sister to school, gave them snacks, went to parent-teacher conferences and have raised two beautiful girls. But there are people in the world who don’t think that counts. For some reason some people fear that perfectly non-threatening family.

Ignorance leads to fear and fear to hate and discrimination. If you don’t understand why two people of the same sex fall in love and want to get married, then ask them! They will give you the same answers people of the opposite sex would give. If you don’t understand why people are so angry about not being able to marry, then ask them and they will explain it to you. And you will hear the same explanation you’d get from people who were banned from marrying from one another because they were different races or different religions.

One of the signs I liked the most (besides the one my friends had showing how they’d been together for 19 years - more than most marriages) was the socialist looking “Defend Equality Love Unites.” I think that was the best message because it’s true. All you need is love.

If you believe in marriage equality, I urge you to raise your voice and let others know. If going to protests and rallies isn't your thing, then write your congresspeople, write letters to the editor, blog about it, host open discussions where people can ask and discuss this without getting villified, talk to your neighbors and family about. As one speaker yesterday said, make this the most interesting Thanksgiving you've ever had.

Check out my poetry in Electric Velocipede!

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:55:21 GMT

Electric Velocipede is a scifi/steampunk type journal and it is publishing two of my poems, The Story and Homemade Rosewater. EV is a print journal, but it has some of the poetry and fiction online if you want to check it out, including my two poems.

So, take a look. Hope you enjoy!

My Prop. 8 Litmus Test

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:26:37 GMT

While I’m happy about the results of the presidential election, I’m deeply disappointed with the results on Prop. 8 here in California that changed the state constitution to take away the rights of people of the same sex to get married. So, I’ve decided I need a new litmus test for where I will and will not spend my money. From now on, if I am going to pay someone a significant amount of money my question will be 1) How did you vote on Prop. 8 or 2) How do you feel about gay marriage? or 3) How do you feel about separation of church and state?

If I get any answer implying they voted for Prop. 8 or are against marriage equality for everyone or think it's okay to get their religious beliefs legislated then they will not get my money. I know I can’t do that with everything, but with those things I have a control over, I want to try to stick to that. Maybe if I vote with my piddly little dollars, or if others pay with their dollars, people will finally understand that you can’t legislate belief systems.

If you believe abortion or gay marriage or birth control is wrong, fine. Believe it. But don’t force the rest of us into your belief system. This is a country that was founded on the separation of Church and State. And part of the Declaration of Independence is the Pursuit of Happiness. I think marrying the person you love, no matter what their gender, qualifies as Pursuit of Happiness!

And if you insist on trying to legislate your belief system then remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees. Give to God what is God’s. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Separation of Church and State - right there.

Also, considering much of the funding for Yes on 8 was from out of state, I’ve decided to write my representatives. If a sovereign state is deciding a constitutional issue, it should be against the law to accept funds from outside the state for that campaign.

My best friend was at a Marriage Equality protest last night. You can read about it here.

Find your representative here.

Find your congressperson here.

Take a break from the election madness!

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:47:59 GMT

Dip into some chocolate articles!

Cool Announcements!

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:51:58 GMT

First, just a reminder, I'm still having a contest for a free Peanut Albinos CD on my blogetary blog here.
You have to leave a comment on THAT blog (not this one) to be considered for the drawing.

NEXT - I was interviewed and am on a blog on KCET, one of the public television stations here in Los Angeles. You can read the interview here.

FINALLY - My name is now officially in the masthead at the Larchmont Chronicle as "Circulation Manager." I'm more of a copy girl, but I'll take anything I can get!

Blog Contest for Free CD!

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:43:55 GMT

If anyone is interested, I'm running a contest over on Blogetary for a free Peanut Albino's CD!
So go on over and leave a comment for a chance to win a free CD!

If you were born to Sarah Palin your name would be...

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:01:59 GMT

Hose Hotrod Palin

Go see what your name would be if you were born to Sarah Palin.

Get Your Red-Hot Copy of October's Chocolate Zoom!

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:01:38 GMT

This month's Chocolate Zoom is about more than just Halloween candy! It's our special fashion edition as well. In October's issue you can read about chocolate fashion -- from clothing to jewelry -- as well as about chocolate specially made for ghosties and ghoulies, and even chocolate paintings!

So check it out - but make sure you have some chocolate at hand, cuz by the time you're done reading this issue, you're gonna be hungry!

(Cross posted a few different places...)

New Poems Coming Out in Electric Velocipede!

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:02:48 GMT

Electric Velocipede will be coming out with a new, shiny, double issue in October! It will have loads of good stuff, including two poems by moi. You can read about the upcoming issue here. Or, if you are looking for advertising space, check out their rates here.

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:38:19 GMT

Cafe Press Shop Open

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:37:03 GMT

Okay, not sure I did it right, but I have three shops because I want it all for free and I’m willing to put up with a little inconvenience for free. So, if you’re interested, take a gander at my three shops:

Let me know what you think.

I may do another one or more for other designs and photographs I have, but I need to work those out first.

Blocking Care for Women

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:23:22 GMT

The deadline for the comment period is September 25, so figure out who your reps are and write them! Go to Senate.gov to find your senators and House.gov to find your state representative, and Whitehouse.gov to write the president and vice president. Also, go here to comment. You can see the docket number and they’ll give you instructions on how best to do it: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=09000064806da3bc

Do it. What are you waiting for!?!? DO IT NOW!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/opinion/19clinton.html?ei=5070

September 19, 2008

Op-Ed Contributor

Blocking Care for Women

By HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON and CECILE RICHARDS

LAST month, the Bush administration launched the latest salvo in its eight-year campaign to undermine women’s rights and women’s health by placing ideology ahead of science: a proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that would govern family planning. It would require that any health care entity that receives federal financing — whether it’s a physician in private practice, a hospital or a state government — certify in writing that none of its employees are required to assist in any way with medical services they find objectionable.Laws that have been on the books for some 30 years already allow doctors to refuse to perform abortions. The new rule would go further, ensuring that all employees and volunteers for health care entities can refuse to aid in providing any treatment they object to, which could include not only abortion and sterilization but also contraception.Health and Human Services estimates that the rule, which would affect nearly 600,000 hospitals, clinics and other health care providers, would cost $44.5 million a year to administer. Astonishingly, the department does not even address the real cost to patients who might be refused access to these critical services. Women patients, who look to their health care providers as an unbiased source of medical information, might not even know they were being deprived of advice about their options or denied access to care.

The definition of abortion in the proposed rule is left open to interpretation. An earlier draft included a medically inaccurate definition that included commonly prescribed forms of contraception like birth control pills, IUD’s and emergency contraception. That language has been removed, but because the current version includes no definition at all, individual health care providers could decide on their own that birth control is the same as abortion.

The rule would also allow providers to refuse to participate in unspecified “other medical procedures” that contradict their religious beliefs or moral convictions. This, too, could be interpreted as a free pass to deny access to contraception.

Many circumstances unrelated to reproductive health could also fall under the umbrella of “other medical procedures.” Could physicians object to helping patients whose sexual orientation they find objectionable? Could a receptionist refuse to book an appointment for an H.I.V. test? What about an emergency room doctor who wishes to deny emergency contraception to a rape victim? Or a pharmacist who prefers not to refill a birth control prescription?

The Bush administration argues that the rule is designed to protect a provider’s conscience. But where are the protections for patients?

The 30-day comment period on the proposed rule runs until Sept. 25. Everyone who believes that women should have full access to medical care should make their voices heard. Basic, quality care for millions of women is at stake.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic senator from New York. Cecile Richards is the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

YAY!!!!!!!!!

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:33:23 GMT

My cousin's band just came out with a CD! The debut of Peanut Albinos' first CD, Falling from the Saddle of a High Horse. You can get the CD at CDBaby.com or the MP3 download from Amazon.

If you wanna take a listen and sample some of their tunes, go over to their MySpace page.

Jewelry for sale!

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:58:11 GMT

Friend of mine over at Good Karma makes jewelry and has posted some of her stuff up to take a look at. She takes commissions, as well. Take a look and see if you think you might need something. ;-)

Time for Chocolate!

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:20:11 GMT

The September Issue of Chocolate Zoom is out. Drop by and check it out. It’s full of lovely tastings, such as Chocolate and the Printed Word or Bestsellers That Oughta Be Dipped in Chocolate. Then there’s chocolate as regards to your decorating choices, and chocolate that is healthy for you. If you want to learn about some innovative ways that chocolate is being used in cooking, checkout Hotel Chocolat. And if you want to know about the current craze overtaking the country grab your umbrella cuz It’s Raining Cupcakes!

I want to publically thank Jim (and Lyle) for aiding me in my hunt for cupcakes and taking pictures!

Cross posted several places....

The Importance of Proofreading

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:45:09 GMT

What is Proofreading?

According to the Business Dictionary, the definition of proofreading is: “Careful reading (and rereading) of a (yet to be finally-printed) document, to detect any errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. It may also involve checking of different elements of a layout (such as headlines, paragraphs, illustrations, and colors) for their correct dimensions, placement, type, etc. Every author knows that (despite the spelling checking abilities of modern word processors) a human proof reader is indispensable. See also editing.”

Proofreading and copy editing are not interchangeable terms, though they very often occur at the same time or are performed on the same document at different times. Copy editing addresses concerns such as awkward sentences, logic flow, fact-checking, voice, etc, depending on what is needed. Copy editing is usually the step after writing a document, but before proofreading it (I will cover copy editing in another blog post later). Proofreading is one of the final stages before sending a document to print (a human reads the “proofs” before sending them to be published).

What Proofreading is NOT

Proofreading is not revising or editing a document.

What Does a Proofreader Do?

In some cases, proofreaders will work in tandem if one document has been copied into another. One proofreader will read off material while the other checks that it has been accurately transferred or copied into the other. Proofreading includes not just checking for misspelled words, but also wrong words. Spellcheck will not check that the autocorrect on your word processing program chose the correct word. Only a human can distinguish, for example, whether “form” or “from” is needed, or that the writer meant “who” rather than “whom” or “how”. And only a human will be able to tell if numbers have been switched or lists misnumbered when transferring data from one document to another.

Proofreaders also check for grammar and punctuation errors. These errors can include (but are not limited to): repeated words, run-on sentences, misplaced commas, whether an apostrophe is needed and where (”its” v. “it’s” for example), dropped periods, proper capitalization, pronoun agreement, dropped words, proper use of other punctuation marks such as em-dashes, colons, and semi-colons, paragraph formatting, and other common problems (”you and I” v. “you and me” for example). Proofreaders are not perfect, but they do try to make sure the copy they are proofing is as perfect as possible before it gets printed and read by the outside world.

How to Proofread a Document

First and foremost, the proofreader makes sure they have the proper tools: dictionary (New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, for example, or the good old-fashioned Merriam-Webster), word usage or grammar book (Strunk and White’s Elements of Style is a favorite), and/or document reference manual (Gregg Reference Manual, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, and the AP Stylebook, are four examples). These are typically not cheap books to find, so you may decide to bookmark special sites that can help you in proofreading your documents, such as: Grammar Girl, The Owl at Purdue, and the Quick Reference Associated Press Style. There are also a variety of free dictionaries on the internet to help you with spelling and word choice, such as Your Dictionary, Dictionary.com, and the Business Dictionary quoted above.
Next, decide on whether proofreading will be done on the computer screen or on a hard copy. Proofreading a hard copy is better in the long run as the reflected light off paper and ink is easier on the eyes than the constantly moving pixels on a computer screen. This means mistakes are more easily seen and corrected on a paper copy than they may be on the computer screen. However, proofreading may done either way.

When proofreading for yourself on hardcopy, you can use whatever marks work for you, and whatever type of pen or pencil you like. However, if you are proofreading for someone else, pencil or red pen may be the accepted tools. Below is a list of some proofreading marks, which may also be found in many reference manuals.

For proofreading on the computer screen you may simply read and make changes as you see fit. However, when working with people in a team, or for someone else, using the Track Changes feature in MS Word may be a good option. This way the owner of the document or team member may decide whether or not they want to keep your corrections or changes.

Now it’s time to settle in and use your brain. There is no short-cut to proofreading. In the end, as the definition says at the beginning of this article, proofreading is the “careful reading (and rereading)” of a document. However, it is sometimes easier to catch mistakes by scanning a document. When reading a document, your brain will often fill in and correct where there are dropped or misspelled words. While you still need to read the document to make sure it makes sense, and to check for whether a paragraph mark needs to be started or deleted, etc., it is also good to scan.

One way to do this is to begin by reading a page of the document from beginning to end. Then, read/scan back through the page from end to beginning. Because the words are being scanned/read out of order, your eyes may be able to pick up on out of place words and misspellings more easily. Do this page by page until the whole document has been proofed. Another way to do this is to read through the document completely, marking what you see the first time through. Then, go back through the document more thoroughly the second time, checking for mistakes your eye glossed over the first time. One of the better ways is to start off with proofing the hard copy, then when making corrections to the document on the computer; you’ll probably find more problems you didn’t see when reading through the hard copy.

If something looks wrong, but you’re not sure, look it up. That’s why you have your tools. They don’t just sit on your desk to look pretty or impress people.

If you are proofreading a document you have written yourself, it is best if you have not looked at that document for a week. This way, you can come at the document with fresh eyes and will probably see mistakes that you glossed over when writing it. Most of the time, however, people do not give themselves the time to be able to lay aside the document and come back to it later. If you can at least wait a day, though, that would be good.

There is no magical way to bypass the proofreading process. Even the best writers need to have their work proofread. No matter how many drafts they have written of something, chances are there is a mistake somewhere that needs to be corrected. Proofreading is an important step in finding and correcting those mistakes.

If you would like more information on finding someone to proofread your documents for you, contact me at Putt Putt Productions.

Cross posted everywhere....

Writerly News....

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:51:10 GMT

Norman Bogner has a new book out, 99 Sycamore Place, a suspense thriller. It came out in July, but he's had some distributing problems. You can find it on Amazon now, though, and Barnes and Nobles, so check it out. He should also be coming out with a brand new shiny website any day now, with new tweaks and fun bits.

Putt Putt Productions Presents: Resumes and CVs -- Hints and Tips

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:27:37 GMT

Job hunting is a little bit like dating, a little bit like selling stock in a company no one yet knows about, and a little bit like those MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) documents you get telling you about the difference parts and/or chemicals in whatever new handy dandy thing you just bought. You have to convey information as well as sell yourself: who you are, what you do, how well you do it. All this hinges on how well you communicate these points to future employers. Resumes and CVs (Curriculum Vita) are documents that we use to communicate this information. They are responsible for communicating information about what we have done in the past and where we may be headed in the future.

However, besides being informational documents, they are also MARKETING documents (see the bit up above about selling yourself). You are advertising your wares, putting everything you want to sell about yourself in the best light possible, and conveying it as clearly and succinctly, and easy to read, as possible. Whether you are writing your own resume, or have hired someone else to do it, remember that resume or CV is like a brochure, a leaflet, a website, or a dating profile. It’s what people see before they decide on whether or not they want to see you.

I know you’ve heard this before, but the people who have read those resumes have read a million others BEFORE they got to yours. Their eyes are tired. The resumes are typically scanned for keywords, and being read on computer monitors (which are harder on the eyes than reading regular paper documents), and by the end of the day, that person has a headache. In addition, they may have an ideal person in mind, or they may be subconsciously comparing you to the last person who held that position — comparing YOU in a way that could be either positive or negative. How you measure up, either way, could be the deciding factor as to whether you end up in the “keep” file or the “toss” file.

Below are some hints and tips that may help you end up in the “keep” file rather than the “toss” file.

While Human Resource Managers, or Headhunters, or the Department Head, or anyone looking for that perfect person for the job may studiously read the entire resume or CV, chances are they will pay more attention to the upper half of the first page. Don’t be sloppy with the rest of the document, but make sure the upper half, or even upper THIRD of that document shines with your best qualities. Used to, after your contact information, everyone put an objective. Some people still do. These days, since some companies use computers to find keywords in documents, and others are still using humans to rifle through the information as quickly as possible, it’s better to have a brief synopsis or summary, typically in bullet point form, that lists your best points. Think of this summary as your topic sentence.

Remember writing essays in school? The topic sentence is the statement the writer makes at the beginning of the paper and then uses supporting evidence throughout the rest of the paper to prove that topic sentence true. Your summary is your topic sentence. Now, throughout the rest of that marketing document, make sure that topic sentence is proved.

At this point, some people prefer to list their education, then work experience, and then other experience. That is the typical format. But remember, this is a MARKETING document. Is your education recent? Is it the most important reason for why you are applying to a particular job in a specific industry? Or is your experience more relevant? How about your volunteer work? Perhaps you have had more experience as a volunteer for the job you are applying to than actual working experience? Whatever the case, begin with your strongest area.

Another point to make when listing your information is to begin each statement, or as many as possible, with active words. For example, you may have “provided excellent customer service” but that’s a dead phrase that recruiters have read and re-read all day long. Drop the “provided”. What you did was “excelled in customer service”. Both phrases say the same thing, yet the second phrase has more “oomph” in it.

When you first begin writing this resume, or are getting help from someone, don’t be afraid to stuff your marketing document with everything. Put EVERYTHING on that resume or CV that you can dredge up. You are going to whittle it down, eventually, but begin with everything. Create a Master Document that holds all your relevant information that you can refer to every time you need to revise your resume to send out for a new position.

Contrary to what many people think, you do not need to limit your resume to one page. Yes, it is ideal, but once you reach your 30s, if you’ve been working steadily at a career, you may well have accrued enough experience to fill two pages. These days, since most resumes are seen on the computer, the one page rule is not as hard and fast as it once was. If you are in a field where CVs are the norm (traditionally professionals such as those in academics, research, medicine, law, etc), then it may very well be longer, as you should list any publications you have, certifications, etc.

If you are someone who is just starting out in the working world, you may feel as if you don’t have anything to put on your resume. Or what you do have, doesn’t even make up a page. This is when you include extra-curricular activities, volunteering, and other activities in your community. Your future employer wants to know what type of people s/he is bringing into business, and whether or not it will be worth it to pay that person. Even if all your working experience is as a babysitter, then you can still use those other activities to round out the picture of who you are. And the one thing you do have going for you on your resume, if you are at this point in your life, is white space. White space is important. White space frames the words so the readers’ eyes don’t get tired and lost on the page. White space is especially important to people who have been reading badly written resumes on computer screens all day long.

On the other end of the spectrum is the person who has a lot of experience already. They have no problem with filling one page, and may even have two or more pages worth of relevant information. The same goes for this person: 1) Make sure to list the extra-curricular activities, volunteer positions, certificates, awards you’ve earned, and affiliations. (Yes, it’s important.) 2) Make sure there is good white space framing each section, and don’t try to make the font tiny just so you can fit everything on the resume. While the hard and fast rule is at two pages for you, you can be more selective about what you include and how much relevance you give it on the page. Again, your future employer wants a good picture of who they are hiring.

Are you trying to change careers? Perhaps get out of the Administrative Assistant trap and leap up to Management? Do yourself a favor, take out any word that is even remotely connected to “assist”, and make sure to list those times when you “managed” the paperwork or “trained” other employees in the office. Maybe you are a TV producer/graphic designer/chef. Which area do you want to emphasize? You don’t necessarily want to hide the other areas, because they may be instrumental in your next perfect career as a producer/chef/designer or designer/producer/chef or any combination thereof. You need to keep in mind, however, which is most important to you.

If you have hired someone else to write your resume, make sure they understand which is important to you. Don’t assume that they just “know.” Only you know, so tell them. In fact, if you haven’t either had a good hour long interview with, or filled out a lengthy questionnaire for the person writing your resume, odds are you will not be happy with the result, because resume writers are not mind readers.

After you have put that marketing document together listing all your stellar achievements and traits, set it aside for a few days, or at least a week. Ignore it completely. Then, look at it with fresh eyes. Look at as if you were going to hire you. Find the typos and awkward sentences (they will be there and don’t depend on spell check). Fix them and, if necessary, rearrange it all again. Satisfied now?

Okay, NOW send it to your trusted friends and family, the ones who pay attention to detail, know you well, and maybe even know the industry you are seeking employment in. What questions come to mind? Could you answer those questions in an interview? Maybe they see talents you have that you forgot to include on your marketing document. Take any and all suggestions with a (very large) grain of salt. Write them down. Set them aside, with your resume, for another week. Then take another look at the resume and the suggestions, incorporate those that you think should be incorporated. Proofread it one more time.

The day after THAT, you can send it out (after you have proofed, yes–again, one last time).

Remember — your resume is your marketing document with the purpose of selling you. You are constantly changing and your resume should change with you. If you need two or three different types of resume, then do it. Whatever it takes to sell yourself. We’re in a recession, people. You need all the help you can get.

And if you need help writing that resume, contact me.

Chocolate with a Conscience

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:13:40 GMT

If you are in the mood to read about chocolate (and remember, when you read about it, you want to eat it, so have some stashed away somewhere), then check out August's Chocolate Zoom.There are lots of articles on chocolate and movies for the summer, plus a rather downer article by me on chocolate with a conscience.

Updated Website

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:31:03 GMT

You can view my updated website here.

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 06:45:35 GMT

I was speaking with a friend the other day and realized that I may not be keeping every one up to date with what I am doing. Since it is the dead of summer and I need to scare up some business, I thought I would do what all sole-proprietors do and hit up people I know for contacts.

Expand my network.

I also plan to follow up with a series of one blog entry a week covering in detail some of the aspects of writing a good resume, proofreading v. copy editing, and why I have the company name and logo that I do, as well as other topics.

So, what do I do? On my resume it says:
*Book editing, proofreading
*Articles and reviews (book, magazine, and film)
*Resumes, letters, executive summaries
*Informational white papers and essays
*Fiction and poetry
Fifteen years experience in proofreading, copy-editing and other detail checking work.
Twenty years problem solving, trouble-shooting in customer service; some supervisory experience.

But what does that mean to you?

Contrary to popular belief, it's not just books and collections of short stories and poetry that need to be proofread or copy edited. EVERYTHING needs to be checked, proofed, sometimes edited, before it goes somewhere: Company, organization, and family newsletters; business and marketing proposals; thesis proposals and dissertations; personal and academic essays; resumes and cover letters; Power Point Presentations, lesson plans, and speeches; websites and blog articles. Just about anything in regards to the written word needs to be proofed and edited before it goes on public display or sent out to other people. Sometimes proofreading even means comparing figures to make sure those figures were correctly entered.

Sometimes, you can do that just fine on your own. Sometimes you work someplace where there are people hired to do that. But if you can't -- if you need a fresh pair of eyes to go over the spelling (spell check only goes so far), grammar, punctuation, and missed or wrong words, then that's what I can do for you.

What else do I do?
Copy editing, which is a more extensive form of proofing, checks for awkward sentences and whether or not what is written flows logically and makes sense. That is also something I do.

If someone needs content rewritten or reformatted from one type of document to another (PDF to Word or Excel for example). I also do that.

On top of all that -- I write! You may not need a writer at this minute, but what if one of the regular writers on your golfing newsletter can't make the deadline this month or this quarter or there's one more topic than writers available? I'm available for that as well.

Do you need a resume redone that you're not happy with? I can do that in a couple of hours. Or do you want a resume from scratch? You feel like just starting over? Give me an hour or so with you on the phone, we'll go over where you see yourself headed and what you want to do with the rest of your life and I'll get that resume done for you. And we'll talk about that cover letter, too.

Or do you have a new piece of art, music, book, poem, business, etc, that you have just gotten out and want written up and reviewed? I can do that (it helps if you can get me a copy of whatever it is you want me to review).

IN ADDITION to all that - if you're in Los Angeles and have a home office or regular office in need of some care and attention, I can come in and organize things for you. You've been putting off filing, organizing those receipts, and typing them into your account sheet for months now and January is just a few months away! I can come in, organize, tidy, file, and do data entry to catch you up so that next time you sit down to take care of business, it's not so frustrating.

Other things you might want to know about me:

If you feel more comfortable with non-disclosure agreements or confidentiality agreements, then I will sign those. No problem.

If you hire me to do something for your business, then you can take my invoice/receipt to use when you figure your tax deductions.

What do I charge?

*Proofreading: $20/hour
*Copy Editing: $30/hour
*If it's something in between we can negotiate on some price in the middle, depending on what is needed and how fast.
*Written content: .03-.08/word (also depending what is needed and how fast)

Resumes:
*Rewritten or just updated -- $20-30/hour depending on how much needs to be done.
*Written from scratch, including an interview with you, information gathering on you and what industry you are in, and the necessary revisions and tweaks we'll make to get it perfect -- $150 flat fee
*Cover letters: $25-50 flat fee

*Office Help: $10-15/hour, depending on what is needed.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Cross posted on every blog I have....

Sticky Notes Short Film

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 20:05:16 GMT

This may have gone around before. It's great. Jeff Chiba Stearns from Kelowna BC uses Sticky Notes to contemplate life.

I can't figure out how to embed media from YouTube, but here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IeSqVboADw

I Amuse Myself...

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:26:41 GMT

I was trying to think of some good names and on a whim typed in "Elf Names" and found this little gem of a site: The Elvish Name Generator. (If the link doesn't work then go here: http://chriswetherell.com/elf/). My name in Elvish is: Tamuril Taralom.

But wait! There's more! You can also get your Hobbit Name! (http://chriswetherell.com/hobbit/) My hobbit name happens to be Tigerlilly Gamwich of the Bree Gamwiches! (Fancy that! I'm not of the Shire! Who knew?)

Thought there might be some people here who might be amused by it as well.

Get your RED HOT COPIES!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:55:12 GMT

Just a post to let you know that the issues of The Illuminata (Tyrannosaurus' Press newsletter of all things scifi and fantasy) and Chocolate Zoom (all things chocolate) are out.

You can find The Illuminata here: http://www.tyrannosauruspress.com/Illuminata/archive.html
(Just go to the bottom and click on the July 2008 issue link). Check out my articles on Writers and Their Health or Archetypes and the Villain.

And you can find the new issue of Chocolate Zoom here: http://www.chocolatezoom.com/index.php
Check out my article on Chocolate in Asia.

Crossposted everywhere

Hello!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:55:35 GMT

I am coming to you from the goodness of my friend's laptop. My computer decided to go on vacation. As soon as it comes back and decides to get back to work again, I'll let you know. Until then, I may be under radio silence or just intermittent transmissions......