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SfEP

Professional SfEP membership!

I’m excited today because I’ve been accepted by the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) as a Professional Member! Their standards are high, so I feel honoured to have achieved this. Who knows, one day maybe I’ll attain the lofty heights of Advanced Professional Member!

So, in the unlikely event that you had any lingering doubts about my ability to do a great job, I hope this will inspire you with confidence in my mighty copy-editing and proofreading skills. (On the other hand, you might just prefer to check out my testimonials …)

I’d better get back to work, but before I go, here’s a gratuitous shot of my desk with my congratulatory cup of tea:

my actual desk with books and cup of tea
My actual desk.
Categories
Copyediting Proofreading Writing

Society for Editors & Proofreaders

I’ve been accepted as an Intermediate Member! I danced a little happy dance when I got the email.

SfEP intermediate membership badge

If you’re thinking about using a copy-editor or proofreader and for some inexplicable reason you don’t want to use my services, I recommend you look for someone who is a Society for Editors & Proofreaders (SfEP) member. You have to prove a certain level of competence – including training and experience – before you are accepted as a member.

The SfEP has a great set of FAQs about using copy-editors and proofreaders – if you’re sitting on the fence, you might like to take a look.

SfEP membership email screenshot
I legit haz skillz!
Categories
Authors Events Reading Writing

Eggs Benedict & Biggles books

Last week I went to the local Society for Editors & Proofreaders meet-up. It’s only the second time I’ve attended; everyone seems very friendly and keen to talk shop. There was a debate about whether eggs Benedict need a capital ‘B’ and, if not, whether eggs New York should therefore take lower case. I was surprised that people talk so much about work at these meet-ups, but having just read the last sentence back to myself, perhaps I’m not all that surprised. Every now and then you need people to talk to about capitalisation and apostrophes!

At the weekend I went to the thirtieth meeting of the W. E. Johns Appreciation Society. For those of you who don’t know Captain W. E. Johns, he was the author of well over a hundred ‘Biggles’ books. Many people don’t know that he also wrote other series – not only the ‘Worrals’, ‘Gimlet’ and ‘Steeley’ books for young people, but a science fiction series, romance novels for adults, and nonfiction books on aviation and gardening.

I’m too young to be part of the ‘Biggles generation’ – the biggest W. E. Johns fans tend to be around the age of my parents or older – but my parents enjoyed the books and read them to me, and I became a fan in turn. I also find the geekiness of the true Biggles fans fascinating, and on Saturday, among other topics I enjoyed talks about Tierra del Fuego (the scene for Biggles at World’s End) and the role played by an obscure Leicestershire aerodrome – now disused – in the war effort (it was an important ferrying base).

shelf of old books
A shelf of vintage children’s books at the W. E. Johns Appreciation Society meeting last Saturday.