Pretty pleased with the way a sprinkle of coriander and spring onions turned this one-pot chicken/rice/greens dish (with masses of ginger, lots of garlic, lime juice, and soy) from a sticky mess to something that looks pretty delicious. Thanks, NYT Cooking!

Working on copyediting what’s proving to be a really brilliant LGBTQ rom-com—and tried out these Vietnamese-inspired meatballs from NYT Cooking, which turned out just as brilliant, despite being little more than pork, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, Ritz crackers, and black pepper. 10/10 evening!

I feel like I barely worked today. I did, in fact, work quite a lot, so I’m going to chalk that up to the fact that I made my favorite spicy venison and juniper stew this weekend: it’s autumn condensed to its essence, and I feel like I’ve taken a week off and gone to the spa.

This week has been so long, I’m not sure how I managed it, but the bright colors of Yewande Komolafe’s Skillet Chicken with Peppers and Tomatoes gave my eyes some much-needed relaxation.

Editing different types of authors:

Trad published authors: “Stet. Okay. Stet. Thanks. Fixed. Stet. No semicolon, please.”

Indie authors: “OMG you’re the BEST EDITOR EVER, sorry I didn’t know that rule, I’LL TRY TO REMEMBER NEXT TIME. Thank you SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!! I’M SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU!!!!!!”

"Faster." Right. Not plunging into that black hole of misery and despair before you force me to, Mr. Acrobat...

It’s now most definitely that time of year where my nightly #stetwalk is about getting to know the constellations and planets, and hoping for the northern lights instead of a sunset.

Editors, do you prefer "themself" or "themselves" for the singular "they" when AU doesn't have a preference? I've seen arguments for both. Louise Harnby's CIEP guide lists both but uses "themself" (my preference) in the text, but APA and M-W seem to agree (?) it's less common than "themselves." ???

It took me nearly a year to finish and submit my upgrade application (it was a busy year...), but I'm finally a Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading! 🎉

Edinburgh: where you can get in a solid four hours of editing, eat the Snickers brownie your husband brought you from the farmers’ market, #stetwalk up Arthur’s Seat, then stroll back home and return to work.

I’m catching up on too much work to go to the farmers’ market today, so I sent my husband with a simplified list: butter, cheese, and some fruit and veg. The notifications from my banking app are making me wonder what exciting things he’ll come home with! 😂

As an Arizona native, I have to say I love these gorgeous rainy Scottish days—especially with a mug of strong tea and a line edit to work on. #amediting

English husband says I have the rare and valuable skill of putting exactly the right amount of Marmite on the toast. I’ve never actually eaten a slice of Marmite toast, so I’m not sure how I developed this skill, but I feel like I have ascended to some glorious new stage of immigranthood.

You know you spent an afternoon editing SEO-optimized blog content when you’re getting targeted ads for commercial kitchen grease trap cleaning and you’ve developed strong opinions on both robotic sewer line repair and the necessity of sanitizing your artificial-turf high school football field.

Husband is writing his fifth book, which means I get WhatsApped his favorite lines as he writes them. Also messages like “CAN I KEEP ALL THE EXCLAMATION MARKS IN THIS QUOTE, EDITOR WIFE?????” Yes, I reply, I’d never dream of removing them. “PHEW, OUR MARRIAGE IS SAFE!!!” he says.

How did I have one of my most productive days in weeks? Not only did I finish copyediting the continuity nightmare of a novel I’ve been slogging away at for eons, but I took a double #stetwalk AND cooked gourmet-ish food (though yes, I overcooked the asparagus, sadly). It’s an #amediting miracle!

Help I’ve come home to twenty bajillion deadlines and also everyone is out of office so every question is being rerouted to me

But also I have this view from my office window! And a couple of really fun manuscripts from new clients on the horizon. So that’s pretty cool! #amediting

I’m quite sad that the CIEP 2023 conference is over, but grateful that I have not only (to quote Amy J. Schneider) the best job in the world but also some of the best and most enjoyable colleagues. So glad to have been able to spend time with everyone I did! Thanks, everyone!