So there you are, sighing in relief and stretching your shoulders, because you care about ergonomics. You’ve just typed in the last entry from the last page, and you’ve done all your basic editing tasks (spelling, deleting unnecessary subheadings, checking acronyms, you know the drill). It’s time to check the length against your client’s specs. You’re […]
Team Indexing Projects
Here at PI, we occasionally need working up a proposal for a periodical indexing job. Lots of book indexers also index professional journals, magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals. The publishers count on indexers to do annual indexes as well as longer cumulative indexes for these publications. The big challenge for these indexes is to provide […]
Tools for Working on the Go
One of the oft-touted benefits of freelance life is the ability to work anywhere. (Of course, being expected to work anywhere can be one of its drawbacks!) While my home office is the easiest and most comfortable place for me to work, it’s not always a possibility. Sometimes, I even find getting out of the house is the best way to overcome “indexer’s block.” There are […]
Time Management: When you Can’t, Don’t
I recently wrote about time management, saying I like to do as much as I can, when I can. Life is unpredictable, and I need the security of knowing I’ve built in some emergency buffer. Focus is also easier when there’s a ticking clock—kind of a short-term version of deadline pressure—or when I know I only have to […]
Abstracting vs. Indexing
I have often been reminded by authors, novice indexers, and publishers that there can be some confusion over what an index is actually supposed to do. They want so much detail in the index that it becomes a cumbersome abstract of the document. In other words, they make it so that you don’t really have to leave the […]
Time Management: Have Children?
I am a notorious time management junkie, one of those people who procrastinates by reading blogs about doing everything better and faster, whose favorite thing about the Harry Potter universe is Hermione’s time-turner. Talk about multitasking! Multitasking is one thing I don’t do well—and I think we’re all starting to realize it’s not a good tactic. In the […]
