Creative Services

There are as many reasons to read as there are to write - though for each writer and reader there are limits. Limits to what we can read and absorb at a given speed, to what we can think of to write down on a given subject, to how many times we can rewrite or reread a sentence before we let it go and move on without the satisfaction of fully expressing or understanding the thought.

If you are a writer, I'd like to serve you with beta reading, line or copy editing, developmental editing, or proofreading. If you are a reader, I'd love to write things that stimulate you to move, do, act out, or just be.

I enjoy reading, but I very much love to read and then interact with the author or do my own editing to fully understand, to make the words tell every secret they know.

As you look about on this website, you'll learn more about how I can be of service to you. You will read some of my writing and get a sense of what you might expect from working with me on something you've written. You won't be able to tell that I am not afraid of a deadline because I like to be prepared for them. You won't be able to sense that I'm kindhearted but firm, that I want to be a better person when I'm done working at the end of the day. You'll have to find that part out for yourself.

Enjoy learning more about me and please feel free to leave comments, ideas, and footprints.

Learning as a Rule

I think the best thing I have done for my business is committing to classwork. For all the knowledge I have brought with me over the years, there is always something to be refreshed, to be picked up new, to be viewed in a new way.

Included in the term 'classwork', as I use it here, I include a variety of things I do in a week to keep my editing muscles buffed. That means reading - a lot - not just text and reference books for class, but professional group discussions, blog articles, and job descriptions from employment postings. I've learned some great things in the ten minutes I spend slogging through email in the morning.

For example, did you know that using two spaces behind a period is a TYPING thing? As in using an 'old-fashioned' typewriter - the kind we used when we old folks were in school twenty (or so) years ago? Just you try to break that habit if you have it. It's my new proofing exercise - I have to go back in work like this post to get rid of the extra spaces. It was only important for that machine -- related to the typesetting process -- and is not relevant now with software that adjusts spacing automatically.

That little tidbit made me a better proofreader. I'm quite grateful for a lot of people I don't even know, that they share this kind of free information in blogs and groups. I'm grateful for my instructor, who I also don't know because I'm taking a class online, who walks me through these big reference books and gives me great inside hints and tips along the way. Her knowledge makes me a better editor.

Very much enjoying freelancing and all the learning that will always to go with it!

Happiness is A New Book

What a great feeling. I joined a national editorial association last week (EFA, if you must know). I also got registered and started a copyediting class, which has been a blast. I got new editions of great reference books. And signed a new contract for developmental editing on a short story.

Not bad for a middle-aged woman who's weathered a big fat life transition. Not bad for any old body, for that matter.

One of the most wonderful feelings I've felt in a while is realizing how much knowledge I had ready to pull up for this new approach to an old skill. Another wonderful feeling is that I've forgotten a huge amount, too, and that I have the means to pick that and more back up again.

I've also done a lot of reading lately. One of those things was quite a directional compass item, so I printed it out.  It was a recommendation: "Immerse yourself in whatever you decide to do. Quit worrying about your choices." It's now watching over me as I work at this sweet little desk.

Life is good.

Proofreading For Sale

I have some proofreading available for sale.  It's fresh and ready to go.  I'll deliver promptly.

It will work nicely for school papers, letters, applications and résumés, articles, research, books, poems, short stories, web content, and all manner of other written documents.

It can come in old-fashioned paper or state of the art digital files.

Use the Contact Form in this blog or email corinnacopy@outlook.com to make your purchase!  PayPal and personal checks accepted.

Ahhhh...A Brand New Year

The holidays were restful for me.  I took a break from delving into the world of editing, looked at some other opportunities that presented themselves, and have a new calendar to fill.

Some folks make resolutions this time of year.  I find it feels more like setting down old baggage, like cleaning up, than beginning something new or going back to some old devotion.  The old devotions pick up a lot of schmutz sometimes in the course of life.  This year I've washed off the schmutz, those ideas that collect over time and mess up the core of my goals.  The challenge is to avoid picking up the old crap and to keep things cleaner farther into the year.

I think my whole theme now is balance.  It's not automatic that today's projects are in clear focus alongside needs connected with my family and my friends.  It takes a bit of refreshment each day to keep that in balance, a bit of this New Year thinking.  It's like a little recipe - a pinch of looking back, a dash of looking ahead, mixed into a large bowl of everyday mundane.  Spice with imagination and creativity, marinate in love, and serve with smile garnish.  Eat with your hands, use the fine china once in a while, and don't avoid the occasional food fight.  Life is messy, clean it up.  Repeat.

Soon I will make a rate guide available from this blog.  It will help me outline the ways I may be able to help you, and I hope it will encourage you to contact me if you are considering reaching out for help with a writing project.  Just think - you could become part of my theme!

Happy New Year!