Thursday, November 19, 2009

Bikers, Old Dog, Pandas and Editors

Oh, my! Two voices from the past on the same day. Julie S. rang to say she's headed to Edithburgh in three weeks' time for a Meet of the (bikers') Ulysses Club. That's just down the road and she might take a billet at my place - though she has alternatives - but in any case we will surely catch up. Like me she has had tricky issues with tenants and property maintenance in Tasmania over the past few years.

And Mike called, left a message; I rang back later for a yarn. As it turned out, when he made the call he was passing through Edithburgh going northwards, after enjoying cool relief from Adelaide's heatwave, just as I was driving to Warooka on Tuesday. Ships that pass in the night. Can't believe we missed meeting up. He reported: the dog Cougar is well but - like me - now elderly and slowed down; he (Mike not the dog) has been down from Queensland to sort out things for his recently widowed frail elder sister; he and his partner have bought a block of land in Toowoomba but for now are still on the road in their faithful motor-home. You know, all that sort of chit-chat.

Looks like I may be quite occupied with editing projects in coming months. A Belgian publisher and a Denmark-based company have taken me on their list of freelance editors, as a consequence of my accreditation this year by the Institute of Professional Editors.

The staff sub-editors of often well-known newspapers seldom bother to use services of independent professional editors. They think they can do it themselves, and come up with gems of headings such as these, quoted at the recent 4th IPEd National Editors Conference, held in Adelaide:

Cold Wave Linked to Low Temperatures
Panda Mating Fails: Vet Takes Over
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
Kids Make Nutritious Snack

... and lots more. I'll spare you.

I'll allow that some of that sort can be clever tongue-in-cheek mischief. Let's hope so!

No comments:

Post a Comment