Ruminations, mostly editorial
Blind faithstrictly editorial
September 13, 2006
Occasionally, in the midst of exasperation and nitpicky academics, come breaths of fresh air.
The first set of documents may come to me as soon as two weeks but that really depends on how fast the first writer works. For now, I would estimate that something will definitely start within a month and will continue throughout the winter. I know for tax purposes you wanted to be paid before the fiscal year. Depending on how you would like to be paid and when, I’d like to submit the paperwork sooner so you don’t have to wait so long, even if it’s way before you actually start or finish.
If you can get an estimate to me before the end of the month I can work on getting a contract to you quickly. Don’t worry so much about the start and end dates not being accurate. And remember, if we need to, we can always set up another one later if the work is more than you and I expected.
Fresh air, blind faith ... lah lah.
September 13, 2006 8:37 AM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
A little awkward?strictly editorial
September 12, 2006
Between observing Golden Tamarind monkeys at the zoo and giving a tour of the Old Pension Building, I address author changes to a first edit of a journal article. Ahem. Yes. Author is striving to make author's intent more clear.
Overall, the finding that increased racial heterogeneity is associated with reduced involvement in violence among blacks, in combination with results from the mediation analyses, suggests that racial friendship networks are largely homogenous and this structural component of friendship networks may be especially detrimental for black youth.
This is because racial homogeneity acts to perpetuate racial disparities in violence since many black adolescents do not have access to the same resources through their friendship ties as other non-black adolescents.
Right. Yeah. Okay.
It's my last issue. I refuse to care.
September 12, 2006 11:30 AM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Client surprisesstrictly editorial
September 11, 2006
The day being gray and dank, all too easy to sit in front of the machine at dawn and mash at the keys for hours on end, not noticing that the working day is over until a client email rolls in:
We have a manuscript coming in October, and I'm wondering if you are available. The book will be about 120 pages. We can send it to you on —, and it is due [three weeks later]. We will pay twice your usual rate [perfectly respectable itself] for this job.
Happy Monday.
I think I'll take a celebratory walk in the park.
September 11, 2006 5:12 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Much beloved editor?strictly editorial
September 10, 2006
The authors of a few of the manuscripts I've edited have been good enough to mention me by name in the acknowledgments, sometimes neatly, once at unnecessary length. This is quite decent of them, but nonetheless somehow embarrassing. Let me—as it were—stand behind the sofa, unnoticed with any luck, near the doorway, a little bit apart and somehow safe from scrutiny, an exit conveniently nearby.
In front of me now, on a lovely late Sunday morning when I'd rather be outside in the nearly autumn, is a 450-page manuscript on disease prevention and social policy, a dry tome not altogether a topic I'd have selected from a list of opt-in editorial projects (though it was, I suddenly realize, entirely opt-in, but no matter). As I read through the acknowledgments with my fingers at the keyboard and track changes enabled, I am suddenly taken aback, stopped cold by the final sentence.
I enjoy writing, but whatever felicity of expression there may be in this book owes a great deal to the work of a consummate, highly professional, and much beloved editor.
Flattering but ... hoyah ! also daunting, no matter which way you interpret the anonymity.
That's the real question: who the author is referring to. After six pages of naming person after person, why close with an a nameless one? I see two possibilities. One is a much beloved and well-known individual who asked not to be identified by name. The other is a blind faith trust in a line and copy editor the author has been told will work on the manuscript.
A colleague floated the suggestion that the author was thanking a developmental acquisitions editor. I disagreed. The author specifically names her publishing house editor and spends a paragraph thanking that individual. The author then identifies her spouse as her in-house editor and spends a paragraph thanking him. It seems to me, then, that no one is left but a person the author could not identify by name because she didn't know the name. A clue to that effect is in the comment the author inserted in the acknowledgments:
I would like to add more here when the production process is closer to completion. there surely will be more people to thank.
So endeth this episode of a minuscule yet somehow engaging editorial mystery.
September 10, 2006 11:10 AM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Editorial cafétangential
September 7, 2006
Photo by Dirk van Nouhuys 2006
September 7, 2006 3:33 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Client lossstrictly editorial
September 5, 2006
The bad news was the letter telling me that the next issue of the journal, which had made up about 25 percent of my annual income, would be my last. The good news included impeccable reasoning for the change that had nothing to do with my editing or efforts. It also included, even particularly, the way the letter was coached.
The really good news, of course, was that the next issue will be my last.
I no longer need to wonder how I might wiggle out of the job with my honor intact. Reinforcement of the goodness of all this...
The current study argues that the nature and intensity of a person’s relationship with God creates a transposable cognitive schema that shapes people’s views toward public policies such as executing convicted murderers.
Transposable cognitive schema? Mercy.
And this is a well written sentence by one of the superior, if utterly difficult, authors.
September 5, 2006 3:13 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Dull knivesstrictly editorial
September 1, 2006
Several hours later, I look for the sharpener...
Overall, the finding of increasing racial heterogeneity being associated with reduced involvement in violence among blacks, in combination with results from the mediation analyses, suggest that racial friendship networks are largely homogenous and that this acts to reproduce racial disparities in violence, as black adolescents lack the same friendship opportunities as white and Asian adolescents.
...to...
Overall, our finding that increased racial heterogeneity is associated with reduced involvement in violence among blacks. Our results from the mediation analyses suggest that racial friendship networks are largely homogenous. This homogeneity reproduces racial disparities in violence because black adolescents do not have the same opportunities for friendship as their white and Asian counterparts.
September 1, 2006 5:00 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Cutting language with a knifestrictly editorial
On a marvelously rainy first day of the loveliest four months of the year, I roll my eyes ...
One mechanism through which social capital is generated is social embeddedness in friendship networks. Not only does social embeddedness in friendship networks generate obligations and expectations for behavior, but it also encourages the transmission of information and norms and the employment of sanctions. For adolescents, friendship networks are unique social contexts that generate these different forms of social capital that can be used to fulfill adolescents’ particular needs for social acceptance, personal identity, and a sense of place in the adolescent hierarchy.
Need I say more? I'm sure I will.
Social embeddedness also encourages learning and behavioral norms and sanctions. For adolescents, friendship networks are unique social contexts that can fulfill particular needs for social acceptance, personal identity, and a sense of place.
Again, not poetry but perhaps ..
September 1, 2006 1:41 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
© 1993-2007 Helen Glenn Court | All rights reserved