by We’re running a series of interviews to introduce you all to our wonderfully talented group of independent indexers and taxonomists who enable us to say “yes” to the variety of project types and turnaround times our clients are looking for. Today, we’d like you to get to know our talented legal indexer, Maria Sosnowski.
Your Business
PI: How long have you been an associate at Potomac Indexing?
I just checked my old email and it looks like that was back in 2007! I didn’t realize it was that long ago.
PI: Tell us your indexing (or other information access system) origin story. All superheroes, including indexers, have an origin story.
During my six years working as an attorney, eating way too much Advil to battle the endless headaches, I was looking for something else to do. I read a book called What Can You Do With a Law Degree? and other similar books and ran across indexing. I got online with my old dial-up connection (this was in the 90s), found the USDA courses site, and read about indexing. While it sounded interesting, it seemed a bit too far-fetched and risky. I did end up leaving law, however, worked in a library for two years, and then found my current job as a law librarian. When my sons were born, I started thinking again about what I could do to spend more time working at home and less time at work, and started reading up about indexing again. I contacted Kari Kells about learning from her, and the rest is history. That was in 2005.
PI: What are your specialties and/or favorite subjects?
Law, social sciences, business, and education in no particular order. I usually do at least several of each of those topics in a year. I like psychology and really enjoy the mainstream audience business books, although most of them tend to be off-beat subjects. I did one called “Spinach in Your Boss’s Teeth” about etiquette, and one called “Think Wrong” that was fun.
PI: Pick one of your favorite subjects and tell us why it fascinates you.
I enjoy doing legal books. The breadth of possibility is amazing, from a handbook on insurance for the general public that was done by a nonprofit to the deskbooks for attorneys practicing in particular areas of the law. And I like doing legal-ish books like one I did about investigations. I really love textbooks because they are so basic and organized and I can whip through them. Last year I did two textbooks with the exact same title. It was really interesting to compare and see the pros and cons of each book, covering the same topics, but with a very different writing style and approach to the material.
PI: What’s your best productivity or indexing secret tip (that you are willing to share, that is)?
I’ve just developed so much more efficiency over the years. I’ve definitely gotten better at editing as I go. I used to just stick things in there and then fix them later. Now I do a better job of fixing things I notice as I work, so that editing isn’t so time-consuming. It’s easier to fix them while you are working and it’s fresh than to go back later.
PI: What do you consider the most challenging aspect of the work?
Well, the scheduling. Either books that are late, or books that are early but then they want an earlier deadline. Or the dry spell where you have nothing for two weeks and then you are offered five books in two days. When I started indexing I thought the flexibility would be great. It can be, but it’s also demanding to meet everyone’s schedule and expectations while I’m also working at the law library part-time.
PI: Where do you usually work? (Please include a photo of your office setup unless it’s a secret superhero location)
I mark pages (old fashioned I know) upstairs and then do the entering downstairs in my office. I’ve got a nice dual screen setup with Sky horizontal and pages vertical.
PI: Talk about your process (and this can be for book indexing or other related projects, like keyword tagging, embedded indexing, etc.). Any advice for other professionals—new and experienced?
I like to mark pages by hand because that is part of my thinking and structural process. I got an iPad Pro a couple of years ago and work on that, writing in red directly on the PDF. Normally I do that in my living room, on a nice recliner. Then I take that to my office and type it into Sky. It allows me to move around and not sit at the computer all day. I can sit in different places with the iPad, and I confess to working while I eat when I’m behind on a project. I say find what works for you and your brain—get ideas from what others do, try things out, but don’t feel pressured to do things a certain way.
PI: What are your favorite/most-used tools, for indexing or other business purposes?
Sky of course. And Dropbox because it makes it so easy to move things to and from the iPad. I’ve got a great page-holder that Carolyn Weaver recommended but I don’t recall the name of…and having two monitors is essential for me.
PI: CINDEX, SKY or Macrex (or other)? What do you like best about your choice?
Sky. I tried all three when I was starting out. I like that you can see the index as it develops, and I like the spreadsheet format. I actually used CINDEX for one project every week for two years for one client. I find it confusing for my brain, and switching back and forth between CINDEX and Sky was a recipe for disaster as I was always hitting some function key that was for the other program. When that client took their work in-house and I went back to just Sky, it was such a relief.
PI: If you could only recommend one book about indexing, what would it be?
Well, that is a hard one. I guess I’d have to go with Mulvaney’s Indexing Books.
Personal Perspective
PI: Where do you live (just approximately, since this will be published on the Web)? And if you like, tell us a bit about your surroundings and folks you live with (including furry friends) if you wish.
I’m in the Pacific Northwest where I live with my husband and two teenage sons and pets, currently two cats who were littermates.
PI: Tell us about your hobbies. Are there specific ones you turn to as a break from work, or any that are a special treat in between or at the end of projects?
You wouldn’t think so, but I love to read fiction. I can spend all day reading an encyclopedia or a law book or whatever I’m working on, but still I curl up with a good book and a cat in the evening. I’m also playing Pokemon because my older son got into it when the game came out, and I had to start too just to have some idea what he was talking about—it’s a nice way to connect with him. So sometimes we will go somewhere to do a Pokemon thing together. And I love to bake, so I find making a batch of chocolate chip cookies to be very relaxing.
PI: What’s the last book you read for fun?
I read for fun every day. I’m currently reading Karin Slaughter’s The Kept Woman. I love to read mysteries with the occasional chick-lit or non-fiction book thrown in.
PI: What’s your superpower?
Keeping all the balls in the air!
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Maria Sosnowski began indexing in 2005. Since then she has been active in the PNW chapter as an officer, conference planning team member, and membership coordinator, and as an officer of the Legal SIG for ASI. She’s been juggling working in the law library, indexing, raising two boys, and various pets for a long time now.
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