Eat the Grapes - Proofread

For centuries, Turkey has been a country of intrigue and mystery. Modern Turkey, too, is a country of paradoxes, both European and Asian, modern and traditional, secular and strongly Muslim. Yet one family discovers, in the midst of it all, there’s much to be treasured at the core of Turkey’s mystique. Eat the Grapes, Don’t Fight the Battles is a voyage of three family members as they move to Turkey for a two-year adventure.

After thirty-seven years of teaching, Craig Johnson takes an early retirement and searches for meaning in this new phase of his life. His only plans: to get away and experience something unusual. His wife is open to a new beginning, yet is unsure about leaving her home behind for unfamiliar lands. Johnson’s sixteen-year-old daughter, while enthusiastic about the idea of living abroad, can’t identify Turkey on a map.

In his touching, thoughtful, and humorous voice, Craig Johnson explores the journey of teaching youth in a Turkish school while overcoming culture shock, reconciling family dilemmas, and embracing the unpredictability of living thousands of miles from home. The cards stack up against this Minnesotan family as they strive to achieve normalcy in a world of challenges, but they learn in the end that cultural discovery can mend the fences of their own fears, biases, and vulnerabilities.

Like the sixteen-year-old daughter, I probably could not identify Turkey on a map. However, in working on this manuscript, I related to the family as they struggled to relate to other people who had many differences. Though this family traveled to another country, many of these challenges could occur by the family–or any family–transporting to an unfamiliar area within its own country.

-Sarah Bagby of Watermark Books, Wichita, Kan.

• Adverse vs. Averse
• Uninterested vs. Disinterested
• Suppose vs. Supposed
• Oriented vs. Orientated
• Democratic Party vs. Democrat Party

Let’s discuss adverse and averse. A ‘d’ is the only letter that sets them apart, but that ‘d’ can make a big difference.

Averse refers to having a dislike or opposition and is used when discussing people. For example: The investor was averse to taking risks with his money.

Adverse means that something is unfavorable, harmful, or opposed and refers to things, not people. For example: The vaccine was reported to have many adverse symptoms.

Interested in learning the difference between uninterested and disinterested? It’s easy! Uninterested simply means not interested while disinterested means unbiased.

Sarah was uninterested in watching sports.

The judge’s disinterest in the case allowed her to make a good decision.

Suppose and supposed seem like they would have the same meaning. However, their subtle difference can make a big difference. Suppose is to assume something is true. When someone says: “I suppose…” their words are considered a suggestion. This is different than supposed, which indicates that something is firmly believed, indicated, or required.

For example: A cat is always supposed to land on its feet.

When something is supposed to happen, then we believe that it must come true. When you suppose that something will happen, we think it might happen, but ultimately we aren’t sure.

I suppose that the cat will land on its feet.

Next, let’s learn about oriented and orientated. They sound like they would have different meanings, right? In actuality, oriented and orientated share the same definition. They both mean “align or position something relative to the points of a compass or other specified position.” Position can also refer to circumstances.

Look at how they both work in the same sentence.

I oriented myself toward the direction of the sun and started walking.

I orientated myself toward the direction of the sun and started walking.

We hear constant talk about politics, which can be confusing enough, and similar words with different meanings can make it more confusing. In the United States, we have the Democratic Party. However, this name does not mean that this party is the sole representative of democratic ideology. As a result, some nondemocrats prefer to use the name Democrat Party. In the end, both are referring to the same group of people.

Try It!

Choose which word belongs in each sentence according to its usage.

1. The poor economy had an _______ effect on the unemployment rate. adverse/averse/either will work

2. Jamie was completely ________ in math, but she liked English class a lot. uninterested/disinterested/either will work

3. I ______ I can go apple picking tomorrow. suppose/supposed/either will work

4. The class was _______ toward students interested into majoring in business. oriented/orientated/either will work

Answer Key: 1. Adverse, 2. Uninterested, 3. Suppose, 4. Either will work

Beyond Names and Forms - Proofread

If we hear this type of story from a hindu guru, Buddhist monk, Taoist wizard, Native American medicine man, or any other advanced adept, we usually don’t doubt the details, and even marvel at the wonderful connection to the spirit world. If the story is about an ordinary individual, we tend to scoff and discount the experience, thereby excluding ourselves from ever having a vision or ecstatic experience of the divine.

White Bear wishes that all people could see beyond the veil of the natural world and see the invisible plane of existence that supports all reality. To experience the reality that is beyond names and forms brings the opportunity to describe the experience and to seek to live this reality each day.

Beyond Names and Forms is an account of an individual who has been taught the nature of reality and the art of healing by experiences with Spirit helpers and teachers. White Bear wants to invite you on your own journey to see that the healer lies within the Self.

This is the second book in the series, and I worked on this manuscript by proofreading it. This enjoyable book discussed one person’s perspective on the struggles, journeys, and spirituality of life.

At a minimum, a typo can smudge the reputation of the publisher or website where it was published. Readers often will not trust the credibility of a text if there are obvious typos. Such readers may not buy products with typos, thus decreasing sales and profits.

Typos can also interfere with search engines that look for a string of specific characters. If a word is misspelled, a search engine will not see the correct characters and will not show your text in the top results. This can be especially damaging to an online publication’s readership.

Copyediting blog has a post titled “Calculating the cost of typos” in which the above concerns are addressed. Also in the entry are tips on how to explain typos to concerned bosses. Remind your superior that nothing will be 100% error free. Keep track of the amount of errors you do catch and compare that to the number of typos.

The entry’s author, Erin Brenner, believes that often typos occur because editors are pressured into choosing quantity over quality to meet publishing deadlines. Brenner suggests explaining to a concerned superior that less typos would occur if editors had more time to work on pieces or if editors had other editors assisting them.

At Editorial Inspirations, to reduce the number of typos and errors that are published, we include multiple checkpoints. On average, each piece that is edited will be reviewed three times. Depending on the level of edit or the extensiveness of the edits made, some pieces will be reviewed several more times. Each review will focus on particular errors, but also look for the errors that should have been corrected in a previous review. This process has worked for us for over ten years.

Use concrete language.

Vague sentences will not engage the reader as much as detailed ones will. A sentence like “The storm was scary.” can be much more evocative: “The house was shaking from the thunder claps, and the rain pelted the window panes like bullets.”

Use active voice.

Passive voice can be vague and awkward. Active voice will keep your sentences focused. For example, instead of saying “We were invited by the neighbors to attend their party.” you could say, “The neighbors invited us to their party.”

Don’t overuse there is/are and that is/are.

Usually, if you delete the there is/are or that is/are phrase, the sentence is stronger.

Use one positive, not two negatives.

Unless you are trying to convey hesitation, like “Mary is not unwilling to do chores,” use one positive: “Mary is willing to do chores.”

Use parallel construction.

Your meaning will be clearer, and the sentence will flow better. “Getting good grades is the goal but to make friends is important, too.” should be “Getting good grades is the goal but making friends is important, too.” Making both verbs gerunds (end in -ing) balances the sentence.

Also keep in mind basic writing techniques: state the main point clearly at the beginning; organize information logically; leave out unnecessary information; use various sentence and paragraph lengths; eliminate unnecessary words; and use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Unnecessary dependent clauses. Get rid of that is, which is, that are, and which are clauses.

Extraneous verb phrases. Delete verb phrases that do not add meaning, like is able to.

Subject is too far from the verb. Make sure the subject of the sentence is close to its verb.

Redundancy. Cut repetitious words.

For example:

The school that the girl is able to walk to has teachers that are smart and wise.

If we follow the above rules, our final sentence could be:

The girl walks to a school containing smart teachers.

Jane Straus, of grammarbook.com, used this example:

The network that this computer is able to connect to contains information that is privileged and confidential.

Using the above rules, Straus edited her sentence down to:

This computer connects to a network containing confidential information.

Abel Emerging - Proofread

Abel Emerging is a passionate, even lyrical, invitation for thoughtful people to reframe the dominant narrative of the Christian story as a resource for engaging an increasingly challenging future. Sober in its analysis, modest in its hopefulness, but bold in its vision, the book is a provocative, yet realistic, call to new thought and new action on behalf of a beleaguered creation.

In the proofreading of this book, I was exposed to the author’s proposition of an evolving Tree of Life. The author also talks about the outlook of life, hope, and the Christian message. As when working on religious books, this was an interesting book to work on. It is always interesting to see the author’s viewpoint and proof for that view.

Typically, academic journals have strict conformity rules and may not follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Articles are shaped to a specific format, and editing is usually done on a tight deadline. Editors do not have much, if any, contact with the author of the article and do not deeply engage with the text. Nor is there time for a journal editor to make “lovely prose,” as editor and blogger Carol Fisher Saller phrases it.

Book editors, however, have a longer deadline and work directly with the author to make the text the best it can be. Because each book is unique, book editors work with a range of sizes, content, and tones. Book editors must balance several projects at once, though. Book editors also often have the freedom to decide whether they will take on a project with an unusual style or other atypical features.

As a book editor, I have worked on a variety of projects and have learned how different genres should read. I have worked with publishers and associations, but I have also worked directly with authors. When working directly with the authors, I must determine what the authors are trying to accomplish and help them get there to the best of their ability.