Should I get a second monitor for my PC? Yes!

I treated myself to a second monitor and my efficiency shot up! 🖥️🖥️

When I edit a manuscript, if my client doesn’t have a style sheet, I create one.📃

This one’s shared with the author’s permission: manuscript screen 1, style sheet screen 2–it’s so much easier.

Whether fiction or non-fiction, I start by setting down the variety of English we are working in e.g. British English or American English.

After that, it’s spelling preferences like is/iz in words in organisation/organization. 🔤

Later, I note how numbers should be styled as well as decisions about comma usage, hyphenation, speech marks etc.🔢

For fiction, like you see here, the style sheet also outlines things like character names and details about them. This one is just a who’s who, but I add in details such as physical features as well. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

What’s the point? Well, it’s all about catching inconsistency. Readers want a frictionless experience where nothing jolts them out of the text. They may not be consciously aware what’s distracted them, but something like a sudden change in spelling style can leave readers unsettled, or even worse if a character has brown hair in one scene and red in the next!👩‍🦱👩‍🦰

What’ve you done with your computer to make your life easier? 💻