My attempt at attending a training webinar for Endnote was a disaster, because I couldn’t hear it properly due to a problem with my audio driver. No matter what I did with the settings on my computer, all I could hear was a tiny sound from the laptop’s speakers, and nothing from the headphones. This week I downloaded and installed …
Online training
I use EndNote for dealing with references when I’m editing a document, and thought I was doing a good job of working with the program. However, this week I happened to look at the EndNote website, and realised that Endnote X3 has lots of features that I’m not making use of (probably because I learnt the program with EndNote 9, …
Unexpected benefits of joining CSE
I recently joined the Council of Science Editors (CSE), mainly because I saw some articles on their website that were only accessible to members. Since joining, I haven’t had time to go back to the CSE website, so I thought I had perhaps wasted my money. However, as a member of CSE, I’m now receiving hard copies of Science Editor, the organisation’s bimonthly …
Avoiding an RSI
This week two major work deadlines and a minor family crisis combined to create a perfect storm of stress. My response was to work very hard (including getting up at 5.30am to edit a document), but I could feel the effects in my shoulders and wrists. I tried switching my mouse from the right to the left-hand side of the …
A creative use for business cards
Last week I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the need to work both on the business and in it. To reduce the stress, I took a stack of my business cards (I can’t see myself ever needing all 500 of them) and wrote one aspect of the business of the back of each card. I included everything I could think of, and ended …
Building a team
Getting sick put a big hole in my work schedule this week, and made me realise the importance of organising backup. On the plus side, I’ve been doing just that – building up a team of freelancers with a range of skills. I’m finding that this is one of the most interesting and exciting parts of running my own business, and LinkedIn has …
Working from anywhere
Last week I said that carrying the tools of my trade around with me didn’t necessarily mean that I could get myself in the frame of mind required to work while away from home. Now, I’m actually updating my blog while bussing up to Sydney in a rain storm (and have been able to edit a document, email clients and …
Busy week
Last week was extremely busy, but very satisfying, in that I completed the first draft of a document I’ve been working on for over a month. I sometimes think substantive editing is a bit like housework, in that you often get to a point where things look a terrible mess before they come good (for example, in housework, the point where you’ve …
Working from anywhere
This week I learned that there’s a difference between being technically able to work from anywhere and being mentally able to do so. Camping with my teenage daughter, I found that, although I had the computer, electricity and an internet connection, I could not get myself into the focused mindframe that I need for editing or any other business-related activity. Even …
Hidden problems
I’ve had a remarkably busy working week, given that I spent 4 days of of it visiting friends on the NSW coast and in the Victorian bush. I worked on a couple of documents – a scientific paper and a short document for an international organisation. Both looked straightforward at first glance, but once I got stuck into them, I …