Katherine Kirk

My Bluesky account is becoming an "airing my gripes with M-W" account. I do like @merriam-webster.com, I swear. It's my favorite dictionary. My frustration is more with the inconsistencies of English as it is used than with the people working so hard to descriptively record it. #AmEditing

A screenshot of the entry in Merriam-Webster for pepper mill, showing it as two words.

A screenshot of the Merriam-Webster entry for saltshaker, one word.

@merriam-webster.com whyyyy? #AmEditing

A soft way in could be using Word's Read Aloud feature. I use in it my editing, as it often catches things my eyes would skip over, that aren't actual spelling mistakes but aren't what the author meant, like missing words or 0/O. And like the error I deliberately snuck into this reply... 😉

No one really cares about the Oxford comma. But... @chicagomanual.bsky.social and @merriam-webster.com, the "begs the question" question begs the question: Does this mean war?

Is "begs the question" OK for "invites the question?"

Whose side are you on?

#PedanticNonsense #AmEditing

Thanks and yes, no sperm for me please

I've woken up in a very mentor-y kind of mood. So: If you're a fiction editor at the start of your career, or you're stuck on something editing-related, how can I help?

I'm great at answering questions on:
- Word styling
- client management
- CPD
- efficiency
- SPaG
#AskMeAnything #AmEditing

I *totally* helped this happen.

I lived in Mauritius in the nineties, when there was a werewolf scare. The police put a notice in the newspaper saying "The werewolf does not exist, but if you see it, please report it..."

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 17387:
The world is filled with writing advice.
Some of it is personal, some of it is fairly universal.
But advice is only ever advice: all authors are different. And if a method doesn't work for you, or get you the results you need, you don't have to follow it.

Genuinely was surprised that Missing White Woman won the Thriller Award for Best Mystery! A huge thank you to ITV, Tosca, Jean, and all the judges. Congrats to all winners and nominees! Bio has been updated.

Come join me on July 14 for some real story nerd stuff – there will be charts and spreadsheets and templates! #AmEditing

An orange and white cat sleeps in a shrimpy pose, clutching his feet and showing off his toe beans.

Beanz.

- include a disclaimer that it's uncorrected and may not be directly quoted from in the review cos that bit might change
- make sure the ARC reviewer is clear that their role is not to point out typos, grammatical errors, or stylistic choices that aren't really errors

Congrats on your book!

I used to review ARCs, and I think including a release date (even if it's just the month for now, and not the specific day) can be helpful so they can plan their reading time. It's also totally normal to send uncorrected proof copies to ARC readers, but...

Of the many things I resent about the last decade, toward the top of the list is the way my jaw clenches whenever I think of Anne Frank's "I still believe that people are really good at heart."

It was the "I won't wear a mask, even for a few minutes, to protect more vulnerable people and slow the spread of a deadly pandemic" that convinced me otherwise. Nothing since has changed my mind.

The unique millennial slow-boiling panic at never having done nuclear bomb drills and being too poor (and disillusioned) thanks to the myriad of economy-crashing and totally avoidable yet unprecedented events to be preppers. #WhatHasHeDoneNow

omg *incoherent babbling*

A floofy orange cat naps on an armchair with her flufftastic belly on full display.

Fluffy cat tummies. Let's go!
#Catsky

A cartoon in four panels. A heavy swiss Fountain pen is uncapped with a satisfying click. (closup image of the pen) The gold nib scratches pleasingly across heavy, textured paper. (image of the pen writing) Each completed page is deftly turned with a light rustle. The writer sighs gently and closes the handmade leather notebook with a soft thud. (image of a hand closing the notebook) These sounds are captured with a high-resolution Microphone and uploaded to the author's "Sounds of Creation AMSR" Youtube channel. (Image of a laptop with a youtube video playing) The story itself is utterly dreadful.

My latest @theguardian.com Books cartoon

Who'd have thought that in the twenty-first century we'd excitedly volunteer—even pay—to put ourselves in virtual panopticons to improve our own productivity?

#AmCoworking #Zoom #VirtualCoworking #CapitalistDystopia

A very fluffy orange cat shows off her toe beans in a full shrimp-mode nap.

#Caturday

She's a neurotic, anxious, mildly deranged, prissy, zoomy princess who is above burying her own poop and prefers burrowing to climbing. She's definitely smarter than our orange himbo, Alabaster.

Screenshot of Merriam-Webster entry showing gooseflesh as one word and goose bumps as two words because they're inconsistent and the rules are made up and nothing matters.

This is why you don't get invited to parties, M-W. Why is one closed and the other open?

She's a rare orange girl!

Just looked up whether "butt cheeks" is an open or closed compound because this is my professional, grown-up job.

#AmEditing

1500 HIV+ babies born per day because he cut off their mothers' meds. Yeah. I think he will be responsible for more deaths than COVID, in the long run.

The two rules that I wish I could impose on authors (and people upstream from me, like acquisitions and developmental editors) are two sides of the same coin:

1. The author should finish writing before copyediting begins.
2. The author should stop writing and rewriting after copyediting starts.

Any second now, a handyman is going to come and caulk my deck. Hard to get any work done with distractions like that.

#AmTryingToEdit

A fluffy orange cat rests on the back of a couch, her paw holding onto a human hand.

Sorry I'm late for work. My cat wanted to hold my hand. #StetPet