See Part 1 and Part 2. Last fall, I began a series of articles about my journey to “phone independence.” Basically, I found a way to make and receive free phone calls (yes, free) using an actual telephone and a free Google Voice account. This is possible through a gadget called the Obi 100 or Obi 110. This graphic pretty much says it all: If you are fuzzy on the details, please see Part 1 and Part 2 (listed above). I don’t plan to rehash everything here. Unfortunately, I’ve now hit a setback, and I wanted to be honest about it, since I agreed to document every step of my journey. This spring I was planning to port my landline phone number to Google Voice and take the next step. But then Obihai, the company that makes the whole phone-calls-through-Google-Voice thing possible, announced that Google plans as of May 15,…
Due to circumstances beyond my control, my site was down Nov. 8-25. I’m glad to be up and running again, and I apologize for any inconvenience. I love to connect with my readers and am sorry for the disruption in regular posts.
In previous articles, I discussed various aspects of what it takes to succeed as a freelance editor. Since working from home is really what makes freelancing work, it only makes sense to have a very frank talk about the realities—the pros and cons—of what “homework” looks like. Working from home—or telecommuting, as many call it—isn’t for everyone, but it may be a big blessing for you if you have the right personality and circumstances working for you. In this and future posts, I address some pros and cons I’ve learned over the last seven years that may help you decide whether working from home is right for you. Social Scenarios I work in a basement home office a good twelve to thirteen hours each workday (with some weekend hours). In fact, several days typically go by before I even leave my house. Yes, I do take a lunch break and a good number…
See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. In previous posts I discussed various aspects of what is required to work from home as a freelance editor. In this post I discuss the nuts and bolts of what actual editing looks like (at least for me) with a focus on some of the tools and technology I use. Tools and Technology So let’s say that you’ve got a degree in communications—maybe even a BA in English—and you’re great at spotting typos. Are you ready to start editing? Maybe. But I recommend you become equipped with a few essential tools first. Even though I had fourteen years of experience editing with two different companies, I wasn’t quite prepared when I made the leap from editing all sorts of stuff to book editing in particular. I knew how to spot typos and fix grammatical problems, but that’s only part of what…
