Sarah Terry

@uk.theconversation.com Is your site down at the moment? I can't get on it my end and am trying to check an article for a book I'm editing... Thanks!

Adventures in copy-editing this week:

- queried whether 'pussy licker' might look better closed up, as with 'cocksucker'
- discovered that Australians call a strimmer a 'whipper snipper'

If I achieve nothing else this week, I'll be happy 🙂

A photograph of a bookshelf in a bookshop. 'A Bright Cold Day: The Wonder of George Orwell' by author Nathan Waddell is in the centre of the photo, displayed with the cover facing outwards, while the other books on the shelf have been placed with their spines facing the reader

Spotted in the wild in my local indie bookshop, @nathanwaddell.bsky.social! Seeing something in print that I've been a part of still makes me very happy!

Cool thread! Strange Horticulture, this game's predecessor, is one of the best games I've ever played, and if Strange Antiquities is even half as good it'll be brilliant!

The best thing about a #StetRun at this time of year – stopping mid run to snack on blackberries

so when you're near me, darling, can't you hear me

cark park > car park

That's a new one on me!
#AmEditing

Thanks!

I've been asked to check over some new endmatter for a book I've proofread, and the Acks hadn't been added previously. Now they give a thanks 'to proofreader extraordinaire Sarah Terry' :-) I think I should get a badge made reading 'Proofreader Extraordinaire'. What do you reckon?

I'm sure it is. First time I've seen one in the wild though!

Screenshot of a Facebook Marketplace advert for a chaise longue, headed 'She is long', with the wording 'She is long for sell'

"She is long"

Like a snake?

Or eternal teenagers?

professional teenagers?

Advert for Suri electric toothbrushes with the caption 'Want a dentist-level clean but don't want to put trousers on?' To the right of the caption is a hand holding the toothbrush in question. The person holding the toothbrush is obviously wearing traditional-style long-sleeved striped cotton pyjamas.

Have I been brushing the wrong part of me all these years?

'I sniff with my nose'

What else would I be sniffing with?! Snippity snip!

#AmEditing

#Authors, why is a proofread/final review post-copyedit important?

Today I'm reviewing a client's revisions following my copyedit, and while I'm mostly just accepting her tracked revisions, I have found one spot where an edit removed the space between words and one where an edit left an extra "e".

Potayto, potahto

Erm...

😂 Yorkshire AI?

These are absolutely breathtaking! You're so talented!

You're doing the right thing in being open and honest about your reality. Disability and chronic illness shouldn't be things people feel to hide, and in opening up publicly, you're showing others that they're not alone. (It still sucks that things are extra difficult at the moment for you, though x)

I love this video so much!

My eldest (15) is a metalhead, and also has ASD and severe ADHD, which means he doesn't always behave how you'd expect him to, particularly at evening events when his meds have worn off. At metal gigs he's been always made to feel really welcome and people love his enthusiasm for the music 🥰

Imagine doing a side-by-side comparison of a classic work in translation, one version by a professional translator and the other by a bot. One Hundred Years of Solitude wouldn't have the same impact on readers if it had been AI-translated. You cut corners, you lose nuance - and respect.

And it's fucking terrifying. So many people basically sticking their fingers in their ears and saying 'la la la, I can't hear you' as the world breaks down around them

I'm concerned that a poorly AI-translated novel may not be well edited either and then considered 'good enough' bc it's saved the publisher money. I don't want a flood of mediocre translated literature; I want prose that sings, that's been translated by someone who truly understands the source text.

Oh no 😞 That's such a shame for her. It must be difficult to judge the quality of an AI translation if your knowledge as an author of the target language is limited.

Oof. At least I knew what I was getting into from the beginning! I can't believe they'd not tell you in advance about the use of AI 🙄

I imagine pay levels depend on the company or publisher. In my experience, the amount different publishers expect to pay for similar jobs varies surprisingly much.

I'm being paid reasonably well, but my main reason for taking the job was out of curiosity. It's not an area of editing I want to explore more, that's for sure.