Tag Archives: editing
Trust Your Eyes
People say this all the time. I do too. It’s metonymy: it’s less about your literal eyes and more about your perception, non-visual as well as visual. But my eyes have been crappy since I was in elementary school, and … Continue reading
De-cluttering Before Breakfast
Not long after getting up on New Year’s Day I knocked some papers off my workside table. This was nothing new. What happened next was: I straightened up — “excavated” is probably the better word — the table’s top. This … Continue reading
O is for Online #AtoZChallenge
When the retina in my right eye detached in early August 2004, I’d been off-island at most twice since 9/11. In the following months, I made numerous eye-related trips to Boston: ferry to Woods Hole, bus to South Station, subway … Continue reading
N is for Newspapers #AtoZChallenge
I started reading a daily newspaper — the news section, not just the funnies — relatively early in life, when I was around 10. As a preteen and then teenage Arabist I clipped stories about the Middle East, taped or … Continue reading
E is for Editing #AtoZChallenge
Editing is not a particularly well-paid trade, although it requires considerable aptitude, expertise, and education to do it well. Some freelance editors of my acquaintance regularly rail against the complaints, expectations, and demands of clients and prospective clients, saying things … Continue reading
Gossip
Gossip is widely assumed to be, by definition, frivolous, erroneous, and/or malicious. Call it “orally transmitted information” and it gets more respect. My first few years on Martha’s Vineyard I didn’t believe people who said they rarely read the local … Continue reading
In Praise of Career Politicians
Coming home from grocery shopping yesterday, I pulled in to down-island Cronig’s to see if I could find a few things that Reliable either was out of (stew beef and no-beans chili) or doesn’t carry (Brigham’s mocha chip ice cream … Continue reading
Martha’s Vineyard Basketball
Slightly adapted from the review I just posted on Goodreads . . . No, I’m not a sports fan, but my fascination with the Vineyard and anything related to race and class is insatiable, so I had such hopes for … Continue reading
When I’m 64
That would be today, and for the next 364 days until I turn 65. I love birthdays on Facebook. People from all the nooks, crannies, and corners of my life check in with birthday greetings and remind me of all … Continue reading
Drumming in the Rain
The second of the three jobs that have kept me crazy-busy since Memorial Day has gone home (on time!). Finally I’m getting back to Squatters’ Speakeasy. What little writing I managed to do in June was mostly tweaking and revising. … Continue reading
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 