forauthors – Page 14

Is it stationary or stationery?

✅ You’re a stationery addict… if you’re addicted to buying pens, notebooks, etc. ❌ If you were a stationary addict, you’d be addicted to standing still. 🗽😆 💡 The way I remember it is E for envelopes. StationEry.

Yorkshire Day: my favourite Yorkshire dialect words.

🗯️ You know I’m a fan of regional dialect. Today is #YorkshireDay and, while that’s not my heritage, the 12 years I spent living there were happy ones. To celebrate the linguistic variety of this beloved place, here are a few of my favourite Yorkshire-isms. (Now, it’s a BIG county so not all folk useContinue reading “Yorkshire Day: my favourite Yorkshire dialect words.”

How do you hyphenate or use a dash in the names of mathematical concepts? And are they capitalised?

🤓 I enjoyed the maths! There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say. 🔎 I’ve recently proofread ‘The Nick Warner Chronicles Vol II’, an adventure-filled Bildungsroman about the life of a maths genius. Nick navigates tricky life circumstances by applying maths. 🔎 As part of the edit, I checked every hypothesis, theory, concept and formula,Continue reading “How do you hyphenate or use a dash in the names of mathematical concepts? And are they capitalised?”

Five top tips for getting the most out of your library.

5️⃣ Top tips for getting the most out of your library. 📚 1. Non-fiction. I look longingly at hardback non-fiction in bookshop windows but talk myself out of £15+ purchases. Library non-fiction is a great way to try before you buy.* 2. Maps. During lockdown, I was keen to find new walking routes. Google doesn’tContinue reading “Five top tips for getting the most out of your library.”

Do authors get paid when their books are borrowed from libraries? Yes!

❓ Did you know that when you borrow library books, you’re still contributing to an author’s income — whether that’s a physical copy of a book or an ebook/audiobook through services such as Borrowbox. (Excellent, btw!) I’m talking specifically about the UK here, but there may be similar schemes in other countries. It’s worth checkingContinue reading “Do authors get paid when their books are borrowed from libraries? Yes!”

What does the name of my hometown (village! hamlet!) mean?

🐄 ‘Land where young bullocks are kept’. 🗺️ That’s the meaning of Little Strickland, the hamlet where I grew up in Cumbria. (Well, the ‘Strickland’ part anyway.) 🇬🇧 In Old English, stīrc was a young bullock or heifer. There are still lots of young bullocks kept in that area so things haven’t really changed much!Continue reading “What does the name of my hometown (village! hamlet!) mean?”

Where should capital letters go in titles?

📝 So you’ve written a contents page. A leaflet. A blog post. An essay. And you’ve used a series of headings. ❓ The question is – should you capitalise the words in your headings? And, if so, how? 📢 The answer is that there is more than one way to approach this. There are individualContinue reading “Where should capital letters go in titles?”

What is a staycation? Musings on portmanteaus.

🤔 Is it just me, or has the meaning of ‘staycation’ broadened recently? Pretty sure it used to encapsulate the idea of taking time off work, staying at home and going for day trips. News items this week are using it to mean holidays taken in your home country. Is that how you’ve always usedContinue reading “What is a staycation? Musings on portmanteaus.”

Should food names be capitalised in menus? And other considerations when proofreading food writing.

😋 I proofread some menus today and they made me so hungry! They were Indian menus of dishes prepared for special occasions. If I hadn’t already sorted a shepherd’s pie for tea then I definitely would have ordered a takeaway tonight. Though it’s probably best I didn’t as it wouldn’t have lived up to theContinue reading “Should food names be capitalised in menus? And other considerations when proofreading food writing.”

A proud moment: when Jon released his book ‘Blind Gambit’ about living with a visual impairment.

Today I want to talk about a proud moment. The release of my husband’s book ‘Blind Gambit’ made me proud. Proofread by yours truly. 😊 It was actually two years ago and was not Jon’s first release, but it was a really important one which tells some truths about what it’s like to live withContinue reading “A proud moment: when Jon released his book ‘Blind Gambit’ about living with a visual impairment.”