{"id":1419,"date":"2022-11-08T10:10:29","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T10:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/?p=1419"},"modified":"2022-11-17T15:00:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T15:00:23","slug":"a-wish-list-for-launch-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/08\/a-wish-list-for-launch-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A Wish List for Launch Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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I\u2019m launching my proofreading business! I\u2019m so excited!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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(Excited enough to use exclamation points in two consecutive sentences? Apparently so.)<\/p>

When I’m wearing my Writer\u2019s Hat, I sometimes engage with literary agents. One thing they often do is publish \u2018wish lists\u2019 of what kinds of books they’d love to represent.<\/p>

I thought I\u2019d do the same – for proofreading.<\/p>

Proofreading is a special kind of reading. It relishes above all else the architecture of the written text. So, are the texts I most enjoy proofreading similar or different to the texts I love to read? I\u2019m not yet sure, but here\u2019s my wish list of proofreading jobs I\u2019d love to have land on my desk.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A play<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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My background is in theatre, so I\u2019ve always loved a script. That combination of completion and potential \u2013 it\u2019s a finished work and at the same time it\u2019s the start of a production process. To proofread, though? Yes, absolutely! All those delightful formatting and layout conventions \u2013 what proofreader wouldn\u2019t want to get stuck in? I\u2019d love to do a script for any kind of play, but for the pure architectural joy of it, a farce would top my list.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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An academic book or article<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I used to be an academic and I still enjoy reading around my field, but as a proofreader it\u2019s the Citation Style Challenge that makes me smile. MLA, Chicago, Harvard, APA\u2026 whichever system is in use, I love to pit myself against all of those fierce rules about tiny things. I\u2019d like to proofread any academic text within the Arts, Humanities and Social Science fields, but since this is a wish list, I\u2019ll go more specific and say that something with a super-wide range of sources (TV shows? Emails? Tudor manuscripts?) would really make my day.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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An upcoming events brochure<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I\u2019ve worked in music venues and theatres, and the sight of a new season brochure still gives me that old thrill of nervous excitement. All those lovely images and snippets of description. All those dates and times and prices. What could be more appealing to a proofreader who loves checking cross-references and still delights in seeing how busy and varied good venues can get?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A magic-based novel for children, or a murder mystery<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This might be where my reading tastes merge fully with my proofreading wishes. I\u2019m a big fan of magic in fiction, especially (puts on Proofreader’s Hat)<\/em> when it involves exciting made-up or unusual words. I also love whodunnits, and while I\u2019m sure I could<\/em> come up with some reason why they\u2019re especially fun to proofread, honestly, it\u2019s simply that I never tire of them. My dream is finding a mystery so engaging that I want to read it again for pleasure as soon as I\u2019ve finished the proofread. Does that sound like your story? Then I\u2019d love to proofread it for you!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A surprise<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The trouble with a wish list, though, is that it gives a false sense of priorities. Like all those literary agents whose blogposts I\u2019ve been emulating, the bottom line is that I love my work and I\u2019d like to do more of it. So, surprise me! If you\u2019ve got a text that needs checking, whatever it is, please get in touch!<\/a>\u00a0I\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sincerely Yours,<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Proofs Detective<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m launching my proofreading business! I\u2019m so excited! (Excited enough to use exclamation points in two consecutive sentences? Apparently so.) When I’m wearing my Writer\u2019s Hat, I sometimes engage with literary agents. One thing they often do is publish \u2018wish lists\u2019 of what kinds of books they’d love to represent. I thought I\u2019d do the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-proofreading","wpbf-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"the proofs detective","author_link":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/author\/lucynevittmac-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":2,"uagb_excerpt":"I\u2019m launching my proofreading business! I\u2019m so excited! (Excited enough to use exclamation points in two consecutive sentences? Apparently so.) When I’m wearing my Writer\u2019s Hat, I sometimes engage with literary agents. One thing they often do is publish \u2018wish lists\u2019 of what kinds of books they’d love to represent. I thought I\u2019d do the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1419"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1465,"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions\/1465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/proofsdetective.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}