by | Feb 9, 2017 | Advice, Blog, Service
This is just a quick note to readers to let you know that I haven’t forgotten you. For the last two weeks, I have been lagging under the weight of a really nasty flu bug and yesterday was a really bad day, and it’s on that note that I write this post.
Let yourself have a break. Nobody is going to sack you and tell you to clear your desk you for not feeling up to it. Writing should not be a chore we have to force yourself to do no matter what. If it is, then you are doing it wrong. I’m guessing, due to the fact that you are reading this, that you are creative people. That creativity is not going to fade because you took a day off to recover from being ill, or you had to look after a poorly child. So if you need to, take a step back, do what you need to do to enable you to be able to come back with a fresh head and enjoy what you are doing.
One of the first stages of Harry DeWulf’s Readworthy Fiction Course (Fab course. I highly recommend it.) is to look after your personal comfort and finding the best set up for you to write in. To me, this includes allowing the writing process adequate head space. If you have a list of stuff that you have to do niggling in the back of your head? You are not comfortable. Go do that stuff, get it out of the way, and use the boring housework time to think about your story. Some of my favourite ideas have come while clearing up Lego (I have 3 boys under 8, therefore I am doomed to do this for at least the next ten years). If you are full of cold and feeling rubbish? Don’t even try to do more than scribble down ideas. You are best off looking after yourself. Have a bath, dose yourself with hot tea and cold cure and, as Joanna Penn would say, do something to “fill that creative well“, (I love that phrase). Believe me, trying to write with diminished concentration will not do your work any favours.
Look after yourselves. With any luck, I will be back to feeling up to writing two posts a week from next week. Thank you for your patience.
by | Feb 3, 2017 | Blog, Service
Last Updated: 01, February 2017.
1.Upon receiving your enquiry I will issue an initial Work Unseen Quotation for the services you require. This quote will be itemised according to the services you have requested and it will be valid for one calendar month.
2. If you find this quote acceptable, prior to drawing up a Service Agreement, and during the active period of the quotation, I will do a free sample edit of up to five pages (1250 words) of the work in question. This can be submitted via email but I also use GoogleDrive, Dropbox and OneDrive if you would prefer. This service will appear on your quotation, as standard, and acceptance of the service by no means obligates you to take the process further.
3. If you are happy with the sample edit and would like to take on my services, I will arrange a time when we can discuss an Editing Plan, and the time it will take to complete the work. I will also issue a Final Quotation based on those details. These details will then be formalised in a Service Agreement Contract which we will both sign.
4. The Final Quotation and Service Agreement are specific to one document.
5. If you prefer a hard copy rather than a pdf, please let me know.
6. If you would like to pay in instalments, this must be included within the initial Service Agreement.
- Instalment payment is subject to fulfilment of all of the following conditions:
- A proven track record of prompt payment. This will be in the form of either references from two other editors or a successfully completed contract with AnnaProofing.
- The instalments will apply only to the balance after the deposit has been paid.
- The maximum number of instalments is six, earlier payment is encouraged.
7. The work will also be divided into sections (chapter sets). Each section will commence only when payment has been received. To facilitate this I have accounts with Toggl and Pacemaker, which will enable you to see how much time is being spent on each set, and I and will keep you fully updated as to progress of each stage
- Once the agreement has been signed and returned, and the deposit/payment has been received, I will commence work on your manuscript as per the schedule.
- You have ten working days (Monday to Friday), from receiving the Service Agreement, in which to sign it and return it, after which your Service Agreement will be marked dormant.
- Dormant Service Agreements will be marked as Expired after ten working days (Monday to Friday) of the date on the reminder.
- You have ten working days (Monday to Friday), from signing and returning the service agreement, in which to complete payment, after which your Service Agreement will be marked dormant. You will receive a single reminder. After this time it will be marked as ‘Expired’
8. Expired Service Agreements will not be revived. Negotiation will have to begin again from scratch.
9. Please do not send full documents prior to signing and returning the Service Agreement.
- Submission of the full manuscript prior to the aforementioned stages does not imply any obligation to commence work in any form. If a manuscript is sent without prompting, the following process will be carried out:
- If no Work Unseen Quotation or Final Quotation has been issued I will raise a Final Quotation and Editing Plan based on the document word count and level of service that I believe it needs.
- If a Final Quotation has been issued, but no Service Agreement has been issued/signed, I will either draw it up based on the quotation or send a single reminder to sign and return the Service Agreement and request the deposit.
- If a Service Agreement has been signed, but the deposit/payment has not been received, I will send a single reminder, via email. This will allow you two weeks in which to send the deposit. If the deposit does not arrive within this time your commission will be closed and your manuscript will be returned unchanged.
10. I will commence work once the signed Service Agreement has been returned, and the deposit has been received.
11. I will deal with academic work for assessment at the proofread only level. I accept no responsibility for the final grading of your assignment.
12. AnnaProofing takes no responsibility for any changes made by the client after the return of the finished work.
13. Edited work will be returned to you in the format in which it was edited;
- A word document, with all changes tracked for you to accept or decline as you see fit. You are under no obligation to accept changes but the decision to reject changes does not affect your obligation to abide by the terms of the Service Agreement.
14. All orders of more than ten pages are subject to an upfront deposit of 50% of the quoted price, payable once the service agreement has been signed. Once the commission has been completed, the remainder of the payment will be due within 14 days of the invoice date.
15. Small projects, of ten or fewer pages (up to, but not exceeding 2500 words), are payable upfront and in full.
by | Dec 29, 2016 | Blog
Two more days left of 2016, and it has been quite an eventful year. In the latter half of this year, I not only finished my degree but have taken a somewhat, though not wholly, unexpected turn in my plans, career wise. It’s also about this time of year where I give myself a self-audit regarding where I am, where I want to be and how I plan to get there. Don’t worry I am not going to drop everything and start backpacking around Asia or something. Travelling is simply not feasible…yet. The other reason is that I would rather spend the money on my kit for Viking re-enactment.
I knew from the age of around 15 that I wanted to do something involving writing. Sadly, I allowed my parents and teachers discourage me. To cut a long boring story short, I am getting another crack at the whip. When I began my studies in February of 2011, I had my heart set on teaching History in a classroom setting. I got keener as I progressed but in the last year or so I have been considering my Plan B options: Open University grading policy has meant that my results were not what I needed them to be to get on to any of the training courses. I had certainly not seen myself as a self-employed Freelancer I cannot say that it wasn’t a disappointment because the same results from a ‘brick’ university would have got me a 2:1 or even a first, but what’s done is done. I still managed it while looking after 3 kids, so yay me. I am sure my sleep patterns will recover soon, and this (theoretically) lets me off taking my maths GCSE. Again (shudder). That said, I am thinking of taking it anyway just so I have that apparently necessary C that I have managed quite happily without for the last 16 years. I am yet to find a practical use, in my field, for knowing how to calculate the area of a circle.
A suggestion from a fellow editor made me give editing and proofreading a go and I am glad I took him up on his advice. I love it and have since set myself up as a freelancer. This means I have the freedom to set my own hours. It has also taught me that I not only need to learn when to stop working and think about something else for a while but actually do it. Looks like I have a New Year’s resolution to keep for next year. I am feeling extremely positive about this new direction. It’s a teaching role (of sorts), just the one I was expecting and I will get to use all my skills.
NaNoWriMo was an eye-opener, to say the least. I gave it a good shot, but I then ended up with a beta-read that I couldn’t turn down. Next year I’m going to make sure I schedule enough time to do my own writing. I have an idea lined up but I have a strict ‘no spoilers’ rule. It will give me plenty of time to finish the first draft of this month’s, edit and get it ready for publishing. I’m really excited about this too. NaNoWriMo gave me the boot up the bum to make a real start on it. The Densewords ‘Readworthy Fiction’ course (available via Udemy) is also proving to be a massive help where printed writers’ guides were not. I would recommend it to any author.
Finally, 2017 will be the year I get my driving license. I have procrastinated for long enough. I will be 36 in April and have decided that now it’s time to stop being a massive wussy and do it.
To-do-List for 2017.
- Finish first-draft of my first novel, (for publishing in December 2017)
- Learn to drive
- Retake maths (yuck)
- Learn when to stop.
Call to action!
What are your top four priorities for 2017?
by | Dec 23, 2016 | Blog, Video
I am really out of practice with the software, so bare with me. They will get better. I have not yet bucked up the courage to actually appear in a video, but give me time and I am sure it will happen.
[youtube=https://youtu.be/iwRm73Yt0hc]
by | Nov 13, 2016 | Blog, Offers, Service
This is just a quick note to let you know that I am now on Fiverr. You can find my profile here. I have one active Gig for proofreading, and another for Beta-reading which is pending approval and should be up in a couple of days. They are both basic packages but I am open to suggestions for others. Please add these to the comments thread. I prefer to quote on an individual basis rather than have a block pricing scheme like Fiverr, however, I have been advised that it’s a great place to get noticed.
