Editorium Update

Divide and Conquer, Part 2

September 1, 2005 – 12:00 pm

In our last issue, I wrote about increasing editorial efficiency by fixing one kind of problem at a time. This raises (*not* “begs”) the question, “What kinds of problems lend themselves to this approach?” Some possibilities for your consideration:

* Fixing typographical errors with a spell check:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17003104 13

* Editing all headings at the same time to make sure they match in tone and are parallel in construction:

1. Click View > Outline.

2. In the middle of the Outline toolbar, click the “Show Level” dropdown list (*not* the “Level” list, on the left) and select the depth of the heading levels you want to show.

* Editing all of your notes at once:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17010168 60

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17110829 75

* Finding and replacing commonly made errors:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17080489 08

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17081273 57

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17082938 44

Do you, gentle reader, have additional suggestions? If so, please let me know, and I’ll include them in the next newsletter:

mailto:editor [at symbol] editorium.com

Some time ago, I wrote a related article called “Editing from the Top Down”:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17078788 02

The idea was to start by editing the really big stuff (such as paragraph styling), then move down to medium stuff (spell check), and finally get down to the nitty-gritty of line editing. This is a good approach because (1) it gets rid of the messy stuff up front so you can concentrate on the details without distraction, and (2) it lets you concentrate on one thing at a time.

If that’s “vertical” editing, then the approach suggested in today’s article might be called “horizontal” editing. Both approaches are useful and will make you more efficient.

Just don’t forget to actually *read* the manuscript after you’ve done all this wonderful electronic stuff.

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READERS WRITE

After reading the article “Divide and Conquer,” Hilary Powers wrote:

“If you’re editing on a computer, separate passes are much faster than trying to do it all by hand. And Adam Smith had a point (you should pardon the expression) for his day–splitting up jobs as he describes did make for much higher production of basic manufactured goods. But a whole lot of 21st-century organizational development effort goes into undoing the damage the pin-factory mentality did to the human quality of working life and recreating occupations (like ours) that feed the mind and soul as well as the pocket.”

—————————————

The previous newsletter said:

“One approach to working in this way [divide and conquer] is to fix every instance of a certain problem the first time you encounter it. For example, if you’re reading along and see ’supersede’ misspelled as ’supercede,’ don’t just fix the word and move on. Instead, use Word’s Find and Replace feature to ‘Replace All.’”

To which Gretchen replied:

“I think people need to be reminded that ‘Replace All’ can be dangerous if you have references. ‘Labour’ might be the correct spelling in a reference. What I would do is start just above the references and do a backward replace.”

Another possible solution to this problem appears here:

http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=17028363 19

—————————————

Pru Harrison wrote:

“I have a recurring problem with italicised commas. Unfortunately your FileCleaner fixes it the wrong way, as far as I’m concerned!

“The problem is this: many authors when wanting to put a book title into italics are careless with their highlighting and include a final comma (when present), which is NOT part of the title. It is extremely tedious looking out for this error (at least, as far as I’m concerned because I know very little about programming in Word). Can anybody come up with a program to fix this for me?”

Here’s my response:

It depends on which style you prefer. The old printer’s rule is that punctuation follows the format of the text preceding it. The Chicago Manual of Style used to follow the rule, but the latest edition goes the other way. I’m planning on releasing a version of FileCleaner that gives you the option, along with many other new alternatives. If there’s anything else in particular you’d like FileCleaner to do, please let me know.

For now, I’d recommend fixing the problem with a two-step Find and Replace:

1. Click Edit > Replace to bring up the Replace dialog.

2. Leave the Find What box empty but format it as Italic (CTRL + I).

3. In the Replace With box, put this:

^&~

4. Click the Replace All button.

5. In the Find What box, put this, with No Formatting (click the button labeled that):

,~

6. In the Replace With box, put this, formatted as Not Italic (press CTRL + I twice):

,

7. Press the Replace All button.

That should do the trick.

—————————————

Many thanks to Hilary, Gretchen, and Pru!

_________________________________________

RESOURCES

The ingenious Greg Chapman has developed a number of free, useful Word add-ins. You can check them out here:

http://www.mousetrax.com/downloads.html

_____________________________________________________

THE FINE PRINT

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