Blue Heron Images and Words

10/19/2023

When your co-worker has no sense of personal space.

My editing assistant gives me pause . . .

11/14/2022

I was coaching a client over a choppy Zoom connection a few days ago and had to repeat something so many times, I resorted to writing it down and showing it.
Returning to my desk today, I saw the note waiting for me to read to myself.

11/14/2022

Fixes that make my editing day:
Principal to principle
Reign in to rein in
Viola! to voilà!

09/24/2022

Adventures in Editing:
Contemplating the difference between ABOARD and ONBOARD.
It's a thrill a minute!

04/24/2022

Still a goodie!

Chicago Manual of Style's hidden sense of humor.

12/14/2021

I will be copy editing as part of staff for The Commons, beginning in January. I am pleased to be involved in this community effort, supporting independent journalism!

The Commons is an independent, nonprofit newspaper covering the towns of Windham County and surrounding areas in VT, NH, and MA. The paper began publishing weekly in 2010.

Submit News - [email protected]
Advertising - [email protected]

09/14/2021

Joy in my work:

"He taught us how to read hymns and homonyms
He taught us how to fight slavery and Romulans"

from "Levar Burton" by the Family Music Forward artist Pierce Freelon. Featured in the Fall issue of Pass It On! the Children's Music Network newsletter.

https://youtu.be/34V7rEQ6Gmc

LeVar Burton pays homage to a cultural icon in education, literacy, science fiction and Black history. Written by southern city councilman, Black studies pro...

08/16/2021

My editing assistant gives me pause . . .

07/21/2021

Close your eyes. Imagine words as people in an office setting. The verbs scurry about, active and animated, getting things done. The adjectives and adverbs…

06/07/2021

Bout to have a whole bunch of spuddle this week.

04/22/2021

Chicago Manual of Style's hidden sense of humor.

03/18/2021

Here's some interesting slang from a young adult fiction I'm editing--can you guess the country of origin? (Hint: not anywhere in the UK.)
- Thongs > Flip-flops
- Wagging > Cutting class
- Bogan > Hillbilly
- Happy as Larry > Happy as a clam
- Doona > Comforter
- Esky > Cooler
- Trackies > Sweats
- Jumper > Sweater
- Green bag > Shopping bag

01/05/2021

Copy Editors of Color! Featured on the ACES blog.
https://aceseditors.org/resources/aceschat

Wanna chat about editing? ACES brings the editing community together each month on Twitter to chat about editing, exchange tips, and share a little editorial fellowship.

11/10/2020

What’s it all ablaut?
Some kind of wish-washy, crisscrossed vowel usage?

One of the topics in my session, “Grammar Arcana,” was ablaut reduplication. I had a hunch this would be a talked-about topic for two reasons: first, it has a fun name, and second, everyone knows what it is, even if they don’t know what it’s called.

06/08/2020

TODAY, JUNE 8, 2020, workers in publishing and media commit to a day of action in solidarity with the uprisings across the United States in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and the many, many others in the long history of Black people murdered by the state. We protest our industry’s role in systemic racism, its failure to hire and retain a significant number of Black employees or publish a significant number of Black authors, and its pursuit of profit through books that incite racism.

We stand together against the systems of white supremacy and racial capitalism that legislate these murders and today refuse to participate in complicity. And we dedicate this day to acts of service towards that end (protesting, phone-banking, donating, providing mutual aid, working on books by Black authors). As BIPOC and allies, we also set this day aside for Black publishing workers to rest and heal. If you stand in support of the cause, consider a donation to one of the many fundraisers providing material support to the grieving families and the protesters out on the streets.
--from Page Street Publishing, Salem, MA

05/05/2020

Working from the home office today. I think my supervisor is slacking.

04/24/2020

New Spring Issue of PASS IT ON! the newsletter of the Children's Music Network, available online. (I copy edit the publication.) This issue features a tribute to Sol "Roundman" Weber, social justice music for kids, and a review of the Musical Instrument Museum.
I am continuously impressed by the Children's Music Network and the resources they make available to anyone working w/ children and music. Check it out! Especially if you are at home with children wondering how to enrich your days.

Enjoy the latest issue of the Journal of the Children's Music Network

02/18/2020

11/04/2019

November is National Novel Writing Month! NaNoWriMo supports writers to craft a novel (with a goal of 50,000 words) in just 1667 words per day! The words don't have to be good. Your novel doesn't have to leave your desktop--but it might! You might spend the rest of the winter crafting something you're proud to publish.
The nonprofit organization NaNoWriMo provides tools, structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page. It also supports writing fluency and education.
C'mon, jump in! You don't even have to sign in--you could simply set the goal for yourself and know thousands around the country are doing the same.

10/15/2019

Scenic artist cap on today, painting for Main Street Arts’ Secret Garden in Bellows Falls.

08/25/2019

Fact-checking for a Page Street Kids book on monarch life cycles—field research can be fun!

06/28/2019

New word for me: GLABROUS, meaning shiny, smooth.
Encountered while looking up this lovely: Penstemon digitalis, foxglove beardtongue or cordroot beardtongue.

06/07/2019

Adventures in fact-checking:
1) Is it true that qiviut (undercoat of the musk ox) is the warmest animal fiber on the planet?
2) What causes the differing colors of the aurora borealis?
3) Can bar-headed geese fly altitudes above 27,000 feet?

04/17/2019

A piece I wrote in the local paper about our interminable mud season
commons.orghttp://www.commonsnews.org/site/assets/PDF/COMM-0506.pdf

04/06/2019

Spoonfuls, or spoonsful? Where do you land?

04/05/2019

On a writing retreat, clawing through old words and weeding the useless clumps from the draft. No dishes, no dogs, meals are magically presented and cleaned up after without effort from me. It's important to set time and space aside for the expressions of the soul, if possible. Thanks, Patricia, for sharing this.

“I've seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write... and you know it's a funny thing about housecleaning... it never comes to an end. Perfect way to stop a woman. A woman must be careful to not allow over-responsibility (or over-respectability) to steal her necessary creative rests, riffs, and raptures. She simply must put her foot down and say no to half of what she believes she "should" be doing. Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.”
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Artist in the photo: Helen Frankenthaler circa 1956

Photo was taken by Gordon Parks, Life Photographer

02/28/2019

Someone wants to take over editing...

02/26/2019

Ha!

This...

02/20/2019

Calling all Heroines! (A call for entries about real or fictional sheroes, up to 3,000 words)

The Heroines Anthology focuses on the stories of women, both speculative and historical. Works with a particular focus on lost women's history and reimagined myths, fairy tales, folklore or legends are particularly encouraged.

02/10/2019

Early stages of planning for a September workshop I'm leading, exploring the intersection of drawing, journaling, and a sense of place and connection.

02/04/2019

My supervisors will be pleased to read this.

According to Marie-José Enders, who studies the animal-human relationships at the Open University, office pets can help lower cortisol levels.

01/20/2019

My office, Bothan mo Rùin ("Bower of My Heart's Desire," or more roughly, where I do my heart's work, in Scots Gaelic), seen from the west door under the eaves of the woodshed.

01/18/2019

Mary Oliver has left this world. Today I walked in the woods and startled an owl from her perch. Nothing to hear; but the sight! Such a rare gift to see the caller of "Who Cooks for You?"
Here's one of Ms. Oliver's poems about owls:

White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field

Coming down out of the freezing sky
with its depths of light,
like an angel, or a Buddha with wings,
it was beautiful, and accurate,
striking the snow and whatever was there
with a force that left the imprint
of the tips of its wings — five feet apart —
and the grabbing thrust of its feet,
and the indentation of what had been running
through the white valleys of the snow —
and then it rose, gracefully,
and flew back to the frozen marshes
to lurk there, like a little lighthouse,
in the blue shadows —
so I thought:
maybe death isn't darkness, after all,
but so much light wrapping itself around us —

as soft as feathers —
that we are instantly weary of looking, and looking,
and shut our eyes, not without amazement,
and let ourselves be carried,
as through the translucence of mica,
to the river that is without the least dapple or shadow,
that is nothing but light — scalding, aortal light —
in which we are washed and washed
out of our bones.

01/17/2019

Assistant Supervisor in the home office.

01/09/2019

A lovely review. Thanks, Joe Tankersley of uniquevisions.net!
"I highly recommend Heather as a copy editor. Not only is her work fast and accurate but she is truly one of the most unflappable partners I have had the pleasure of working with. She is unfazed by changes and works to keep the process on track. "

“Reimagining Our Tomorrows is a delightful, insightful and inspiring book! At a time when our present feels like a collective trance and the future seemingly looms like a dystopian nightmare, Joe Tankersley harnesses the unlimited reach and power of the human imagination to show us what is possibl...

01/06/2019

Planning and playing at the same time . . . Thank you, Ann Braden (annbradenbooks.com) for sharing about bullet journals!

12/14/2018

Thank you and happy winter to all Blue Heron Images and Words clients. Joy and prosperity to you in the new year.

Time to head south, don't you think?

11/30/2018

Fun Fact-Check of the Day:
The author writes, "But what happens when he’s exposed to Kryptonite, the radioactive element from his home planet of Krypton?"
Is kryptonite a radioactive element? Is it capitalized?
Let's find out!

11/25/2018

It's a common comma conundrum for copyeditors: Should a sentence-ending 'too' be preceded by a comma? Here's what you need to consider.