dragonfly editorial

A new ‘how to’ for work-life balance

Posted by: Amy Paradysz, Senior Editor, February 21st, 2012

Always fascinated by issues of work-life balance, I offered running commentary throughout the Sarah Jessica Parker romantic comedy “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” I never saw that date again—which provides some insight into how not to do it.

The burning question behind the film is whether it is in fact possible to have work-life “balance.” Can we have a satisfying career and a family and also carve out enough time to be satisfied human beings—passionate, organized, healthy, and wearing matching socks? Is middle-of-the-night list-making really the answer?

The Work and Family Researchers Network (http://workfamily.sas.upenn.edu/), one of our clients, recently reviewed a new book that reframes that million-dollar question.

Lisa Levey, author of The Libra Solution: Shedding Excess and Redefining Success at Work and Home (Baudin Press, January 2012, $16), has spent nearly two decades studying work cultures within Fortune 500 companies that promote work/life balance and professional development. She shares her findings as a work/life balance scholar as well as her personal story of the day-to-day juggling act of being both a working professional and a mother.

“The Libra Solution provides a much-needed resource for couples who want to participate fully in both the work and home arenas,” wrote Judi Casey, director of the WFRN. “It offers strategies, examples, inspiration, and encouragement to families about how to create satisfying work and meaningful family lives.”

Levey approaches both work and family responsibilities in less traditional, more flexible ways.

In contrast to the “work harder” ethic of Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, Levey suggests “work smarter” ways to:

(1)    Manage schedule overload.
(2)    Dial down unrealistic expectations.
(3)    Create a more satisfying way to work and to live.

Now there’s a to-do list I want to know more about!

Dragonfly Editorial project manager Amy Paradysz is a continual list-maker and overscheduler but wrote this blog in her pajamas. Is that balance?

Posted in Work-life balance | no comments »

Perplexed by the Pantone Color of the Year

Posted by: Alexis Nesbitt, Art Director, February 14th, 2012

I was recently alerted to the new Pantone Color of the Year: Tangerine Tango.

I’m always interested—and admittedly, often baffled—by Pantone’s choice. Sometimes it makes perfect sense: turquoise was Color of the Year in 2010, and shades of aqua have dominated decorating magazines and catalogs ever since. Turquoise was obviously a prescient pick.

This year, however, I’m having a hard time figuring out what 2012’s honorary color even is. Pantone offers numerous products showcasing Tangerine Tango, but they are all are all very different shades of orange. There’s a mug, an iphone case, a messenger bag, and a journal, all of which range from tomato red to an almost peachy shade. Even the official fabric swatch and the chip don’t match. And none of them match the graphics on the site.

For a standard-bearer, Pantone should pay a bit more attention to color match. As it is, I can’t even say if I like Tangerine Tango. See the elusive Color of the Year here:
http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/category.aspx?ca=88

Alexis Nesbitt is Dragonfly’s Art Director. She is the recipient of numerous ADDY, Marcom, and Hermes Creative Awards, including for her identity for Dragonfly.

Posted in Design | no comments »

Do you speak Android?

Posted by: Amy Paradysz, Senior Editor, February 14th, 2012

My cat chews through charger cords. On my most recent visit to the local Verizon store to buy a replacement, I discovered that Verizon hosts free workshops on Android basics for their customers.

This 1 1/2-hour workshop got me pumped up about all the things I didn’t know how to do or didn’t know I could do with my tablet. I’d been using it to check email and the Dragonfly project calendar (and as an alarm clock). But it’s a camera, an e-reader (no need for a Kindle!), a music player, and a GPS. I can open Microsoft Office files, store contacts, and play Angry Birds.

I was the only person at the workshop who had a tablet rather than a smart phone, but the interfaces are so similar that I was able to follow along. Actually, my 11-year-old did, too.

If you, too, are underusing technology because you need a human to walk you through it, check out whether your phone store hosts workshops for the technologically challenged.

Amy Paradysz uses her tablet to keep up with Dragonfly editing requests when she is away from her desk. And she uses Bitter Apple to keep her cat from eating the charger cord.

Posted in Technology and communications | no comments »

What kind of editor are you?

Posted by: Samantha Enslen, president and senior editor, February 7th, 2012

Dragonfly recently acquired a new dog: Lola, an adorable Schnauzer-Poodle-terrier mix from our local shelter. Lola came into the shelter as a stray, with a broken pelvis and a mean case of ear mites. She’s been with us three weeks and is healing nicely. She’s also well on the way to winning the Sweetest Dog of the Decade Award.

Often, when we tell people that our dog’s name is Lola, they start singing. And we’ve realized that their song choice represents a kind of canine Myers-Briggs.

Want some insight into your personality? Stare into Lola’s eyes, open your mouth, and see what song comes out.

“Her name was Lola / she was a showgirl.” That’s right, the opening lines from Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana.” If you’re singing this song, you bring fun to every document you edit. Who cares if you work in a boring profession – that doesn’t mean you have to be boring! Perhaps your edition of the AMA Manual of Style is tabbed with rainbow-colored Post-It Notes. Perhaps you served “Banana Split Infinitives” at your last party. Or perhaps you take your afternoon tea with lemon and milk. However technical your copy, you bring it to life with fun.

“Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand / Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man / Oh my Lola, Lo-lo-lo-lo-Lola.” Yes, it’s the other Lola, penned by the Kinks’ Ray Davies. If you started singing this, chances are you’re an editor who lives on the edge. Maybe you believe in letting authors mix metaphors or use they with singular antecedents. And maybe you’re not afraid to make style decisions that buck Chicago and Garner. Either way, your independent approach can breathe new life into the driest of copy.

“Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.” If you’re belting out this showtune from Damn Yankees, you’re probably a conservative copyeditor who insists on traditional style and usage. Allow “since” in place of “because?” Not unless you intend a temporal meaning, buddy. Allow the parts to comprise the whole? Forget about it. Your devotion to the highest editorial standards may annoy some people, but you make their writing shine like nobody’s business.

“I know each song and can sing them all!” If you’re making this choice, chances are you’re an editorial dream team in and of yourself. You likely use Chicago during the day, then turn to AMA or even APA for weekend projects. You’re not afraid to tackle technical documentation one minute and marketing copy the next. You might even edit general nonfiction or teen lit on the side, just for fun.

“I don’t know any of these songs. What are you talking about?” Oh, dear. If you made this choice, you probably need to sign up for remedial grammar and basic composition. Please contact a community college near you.

Samantha Enslen runs Dragonfly Editorial. And just for the record, she is not slamming community colleges. She thinks they’re great.

Tags: Copyediting
Posted in Copyediting, Freelance editing | no comments »

New city, new career … and way too many dinner options

Posted by: Greg Hyman, Special Guest Editor, January 31st, 2012

I tend to be fairly indecisive when faced with major decisions, like which pair of jeans to wear on a Friday night out, or which side dish to order with my dinner. I say I’m just analytical.

Needless to say, then, that my recent move from Connecticut to Chicago came after months of sober deliberation. I tallied all the pros and cons. On the plus side? Deep dish pizza; the Bears; and the vibrant city my partner Jenne calls home. The cons? Deep dish pizza; the Bears; and the vast, dizzying unknown, especially where work was concerned.

After interviewing with several organizations, I had accepted a job with Avatar HR Solutions, a talent management consulting firm with offices downtown, just a block from Millennium Park. The first time I visited my prospective colleagues, I was dazzled by the organization and environs but still felt haunted by unknowns.

To take this new job, I would be leaving the publishing industry to work in marketing, a new field for me. Would I miss playing with books every day? Would I be any good at marketing? With choices downtown abounding, how would I choose a spot for lunch?

Three busy months have passed since I first asked myself those questions. During that time, many similarly important problems have arisen, usually as I sit before a menu in a restaurant downtown, while Jenne frowns, belly grumbling.

Meanwhile, my aforementioned career questions have for the most part worked themselves out. My organization is lively; my coworkers are bright; and I’m paid well to write and create—all very happy circumstances.

Sometimes I miss publishing, but I’ve found no lack of opportunities to keep my hand in the editing game. As a freelance writer and editor, I’m fortunate to contribute to fantastic organizations like Dragonfly Editorial. I also recently discovered the website Chicago Publishes, where I’ve learned about the city’s inclusive publishing industry programs.

I look forward to getting involved: attending events, building my freelance network, and learning more about how I can support Chicago’s publishing industry in my spare time.

With so much excitement on the horizon, my only question now is what to have for dinner. Grab a bread stick: This may take some time.

Greg Hyman is an marketing project manager at Avatar HR Solutions and a freelance writer and editor.

Posted in Freelance editing, Work-life balance | 2 comments »

Books… repurposed

Posted by: Amy Paradysz, Senior Editor, January 17th, 2012

You probably saw it on Facebook—a Christmas tree constructed out of classic hardcovers. Our librarian told me this was a theme repeated at bookstores around our city and around the country.

In this increasingly digital world in which we live, work, and read, bibliophiles are looking for creative ways to demonstrate our love and appreciation for books. Even if we have to get a little crafty.

Books have always been part of my identity.

As a teenager reading on a boat, I was instructed, “Amy, wave!” and I waved my hand, nose still stuck in my book, and got drenched.

Probably one-quarter of all my earthly possessions are books—at least in weight. There are books I’ve edited, books passed down from my grandmothers, books I haven’t had time to read yet, books I will probably want to read again…

I not only love to read, I love the packaging of a well-designed book. I open French flaps, I run my fingers over spot gloss, and I absolutely must check to see if some creative use was made of the endpapers.

What does this mean in the age of the e-reader? Can we make new friends with the convenience of the electronic word and keep the charm and beauty of a well-made book?

Here’s where we get crafty

Poking around the library while my daughter was in her pre-teen book group watching “book trailers” on YouTube, I made quite a find: The Repurposed Library: 33 Craft Projects That Give Old Books New Life by Lisa Occhipinti (Abrams, 2011).

“Look,” I gushed, on the way out to the car, “You can take an old hardcover cookbook, take out the insides, and turn it into a tool bin for cooking utensils.”

“Those poor, poor books,” my daughter said.

Well, yes, the books are deconstructed. But they are re-imagined in creative paper-based literary heritage. They are made into things that will be loved and used.

Some projects repurpose the hardcover exterior—transformed into a Hanging Mirror, a Birdhouse, a Story Time Clock, or a Two-Book Luminary.

Others make use of the innards—transformed into a Bookmobile, a Pagework Quilt, or a Biographical Bracelet.

Or you can use the whole book and make a Best-Seller Bookshelf, a Literary Lamp, or a Book Ledge.

My favorite project in the book marries the old and the new. With an old hardcover, some Velcro, some decorative paper, and a bookplate, you can make … a Kindle Keeper.

Amy Paradysz wants a book-themed room with a Pagework Quilt, a Literary Lampshade, and an Illuminated Switch Plate. She does not yet own an e-reader. But she’s thinking about it.

Posted in Creativity, Design, Publishing | 1 comment »

A punctuation poll–or much ado about small symbols

Posted by: Margaret Walker, Technical & Proposal Editor, January 10th, 2012

My appreciation for punctuation began when I discovered the poetry of e.e. cummings. His spare, unconventional use of these symbols and other writing conventions made me see the marks in a whole new way. They were elegant, strong—as powerful as a polysyllabic word in his hands. Out of context, their controlling purpose found freedom of expression.

As I morphed from poet to editor, my fascination with punctuation came full circle. I learned to wield its power for function to accentuate form… handled deftly, punctuation works almost invisibly, allowing a reader to drift into a story and forget that its transformative world was created entirely of abstract symbols on paper.

I recently thought my fellow Dragonfly editors might feel a similar kinship to punctuation. I asked a simple question: What’s your favorite punctuation mark, and why?* Here’s what I got.

Samantha Enslen :

My favorite punctuation mark is the comma. I use it too frequently, even when it’s not grammatically correct. Two years of texting have conditioned me to pen constructions such as these:

Going to grocery, need anything?

Me go Chipotle, what you want?

Me home 3pm, where kids?

I see now that my casual writing style has been reduced to Tarzan-level. Me want text. Me no care ‘bout proper grammar. As a copyeditor, it’s hard for me to admit this, but it’s true.

Amy Paradysz:

I love em dashes—my thoughts are full of digressions.

Jess Haberman:

Em dash. It’s so controlling! It likes to interrupt and make you wait. It’s the punctuation mark with balls—just not literally.

Ellen Henrie:

My initial reaction was the em dash. I like the graphic quality of it—it opens up a space and allows a thought to drop in, adding a layer or emphasis. It also comes in handy for transcribing, when speakers get to wandering around in what they want to say. Then I said, “Wait a minute—what about the period?” That lowly little dot that is like a fist**… hmmm… No, I admire the period, but it’s not my favorite. I feel sorry for the comma—the most used and abused of all marks. The poor thing gets sprinkled in thither and yon or else left out with no respect to the proprieties. Then there’s the semicolon; no, it’s too complicated. The parenthesis? (Things set in parentheses often seem distracting.) Ellipsis? The dreamy cousin of punctuation marks… yes, I have a certain fondness for this one. But I’ll stick with the em dash as my favorite—at least for today.

Diana Ceres:

Ellipses all the way… Love me some mystery… Email smiley is a close second. Exclamation marks skid into third with me. I love how exciting and celebratory they are!!

Clair Allen:

The semicolon is the most versatile of punctuation marks and ranks at the top of the list. It is like a traffic cop. It neatly separates important sentence segments, which is absolutely necessary to the proper understanding of complex sentences. The semicolon facilitates and permits the serial comma to do its job. Without the semicolon in more meaty sentences, the poor serial comma would be absolutely adrift, lost—leading to all sorts of confusion. The semicolon is so powerful; it can easily replace a sentence-ending period whenever it wants (like it did in this sentence). Perhaps the only thing to add is that the semicolon continues to patiently wait for the greater respect due it by writers of all stripes.

Magi Walker (that’s me):

I confess, I am dazzled by the flare of an exclamation mark—and who can resist the deliciously onomatopoetic interrobang?! But the apostrophe wins my heart as punctuation’s unsung hero. It’s a beautiful word: apostrophe. It is the lofty cousin of the common comma and the multi-faceted twin of the single quotation mark. An apostrophe holds a place in line. It stands in for others, silently doing their job. It fuses two into one, slicing syllables without sacrificing sense. It implies a manner of speaking and lends a conversational tone. It softens the blow of the nots in this life. And it announces a belonging.

* Of course, if we have our punctuation pets, we have our pet peeves, too. I’ll uncover the annoying side of punctuation in a future post.

** Punctuation Kung Fu was created in Suffolk, England, to teach the mechanics of sentence structure to kids. It pairs fighting moves (such as the Full Stop Fist Punch) and sounds (HA!) with the rules of applying punctuation symbols.

Margaret Walker edits, writes, and reads—and thrives on the evolution of language.

Tags: Editorial Services, Proofreading, Punctuation
Posted in Creativity, Proofreading, Punctuation | 2 comments »

New Year’s resolution: step up your professional development

Posted by: Samantha Enslen, president and senior editor, January 4th, 2012

Yes, friends, I can admit it.

I was not always a perfect copyeditor.

I lay the evidence before you: a 10th-grade book report on Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five.

In case you can’t read my teacher Mr. Vaughn’s comments, here they are in all their harsh glory.

“Wow! The subject matter here is excellent. Your writing is insightful and unusually readable. You might review some grammar rules, as you have several major, and careless, errors. Grade: A+ for content, D for grammar.”

Ouch!

Major, careless errors? What gives?

Apparently, I wasn’t always great with grammar. And sometime between 10th grade and now, I improved. And let me be frank: It didn’t happen in college.

Instead, when I decided to be a copyeditor, I sought out the professional training I needed.

Here’s what I did.

Study. I started by spending hours reading and taking notes. I studied books like the Chicago Manual of Style, the Associated Press Stylebook, and the New York Public Library Writer’s Guide to Style and Usage. I didn’t understand everything I was reading, but I knew that it would someday be relevant to my work.

Practice. Next I picked up two workbooks: Mark My Words and Substance and Style. (Both are out of print but can be found on Amazon.) I worked my way through each one, end to end, dutifully filling out each exercise and grading myself according to the key in the back of the book.

Attend. I also sought out training from experts in the field. I attended several classes offered by EEI Communications, including their Intensive Introduction to Copyediting, Substantive Editing, and Style Summit courses.

Continue. And I haven’t stopped. I regularly attend conferences, classes, and webinars offered by groups like IABC, Ragan, and Copyediting.com. I also read newsletters published by Ann Wylie, Daphne Gray-Grant, and Michael Stelzner, just to name a few.

In fact, despite all my training, I’m still afraid of falling behind. Maybe that’s because technology is changing the way we work so dramatically. Or maybe it’s because I want our company to be a leader in the communications industry, not a laggard.

So if you can’t find me some afternoon, look in the easy chair in the corner. I’ll probably be curled up studying the latest edition of Copyediting. I’m just reading it on my laptop these days, instead of paper.

Samantha Enslen runs Dragonfly Editorial.

Tags: Copyediting, Editorial Services, Resources for editors
Posted in Copyediting, Resources for editors | no comments »

Three questions every copywriter should ask

Posted by: Jill Davis, Copywriter / Brand Specialist, December 27th, 2011

Note from Dragonfly president Sam Enslen: I was recently talking with writer Jill Davis, and she mentioned quite in passing that there are really only three questions you need to ask when approaching a writing assignment: “Who am I talking to? What do they think now? And what do we want them to think?”

There seemed to be some simple brilliance in Jill’s words, so I asked her to elaborate.

Sam: So, Jill, you need answers to just three questions to write a marketing piece. Tell me more!

Jill: On the way to crafting a marketing message, a client’s first inclination is often to declare superiority in service or product. But shouting, “We’re the best!” “We’re the right choice!” actually isn’t persuasive. It takes a combination of information and empathy to be persuasive.

As a copywriting apprentice, I’d often come away from a kickoff meeting with weak direction that resulted in weak ads. I realized the onus was on me to direct the client’s thinking.

And as a student of dramatic structure and playwriting, I tend to imagine conversations and interactions between people. I’m not just putting words on a page, I’m adopting the character of my client and talking to someone about something important to them. Who is that person? What’s important to them? What do they think?

And the natural follow-on question: What do we want them to think?

I also dug into texts of notable copywriters who had developed their own versions of the same questions, so I knew I was on the right track.

Sam: You also mentioned that you take these three questions and “build on them” during an interview. Can you a talk about how that happens?

Jill: The “who” question prompts the marketing team to tell stories about recent encounters and challenges with customers.

My follow-up questions come naturally, such as, “Why did that customer come to you? What were they expecting from you?” “How did you address their problem?”I usually get some great anecdotes to draw from. The stories help me understand their target customer and how we should speak to their pain points.

Sam: As great as these questions are, is it ever hard to get your interviewees to answer them?

Jill: It usually isn’t difficult. One tough part can be getting them to talk about their competitive strategy. They might have hired the writer without having created one.

In that case, you need to find out what makes your client truly unique in their market. Or, they may be in parity with everyone else. In that case, you have to help them say something the competition isn’t saying, and say it in a unique voice.

Sam: Final question. Do you ever get stuck having to write without all the information you’d like to have? If so, what do you do?

Jill: Very frequently, clients hire a writer simply to make them “sound like Apple” or to imitate the voice of the “it” company of the moment. And that’s all the direction you get. Your work is rated on how well you do that, not how well you address customer needs.
Clients rarely have the luxury of time to look into their hearts to see what their own brand is really all about. And your contact probably doesn’t have the authority to push back on that. It has to come from the corner office.

So you do your best for the client. Your writing can make a tired brand sound fresh. But of course ideally you want to sound authentic, empathetic, really connected — all that good stuff that writing has the power to do.

Sam: Thanks, Jill. It seems to me your advice can be applied to any type of persuasive writing — case studies, web content, white papers — not just ads. In fact, I think I’ll use it on a project this week!

Jill: Thanks, Sam. Go for it and good luck.

Jill Davis is a copywriter with extensive experience in marketing, branding, and retail sales.

Tags: Copywriting, Editorial Services
Posted in Capability brochures, Copywriting, Marketing | no comments »

Passionate about punctuation

Posted by: Amy Paradysz, Senior Editor, December 20th, 2011

Think that regular people don’t care about punctuation?

Think again.

A friend from high school recently posted this on Facebook:

Lauren’s grammar homework:

Choose the correct way to rewrite the end of this sentence: “A string quartet has two violins a viola and a cello.”

a. two violins, a viola, and a cello.
b. two violins, a viola, and, a cello.
c. two, violins a, viola and a, cello.
d. no change is needed.

Maybe I’ve spent too much time with my AP Style Book, but none of these are correct!!!

Thus began a heated debate over commas, with 81 comments posted by a variety of people over less than two hours—and more comments to come.

The original post was by a career newspaper journalist. Journalists use Associated Press (AP) style and are firm in the belief that the serial comma is superfluous and must be expunged.

I was once a newspaper reporter and editor, so I remember my distaste for that “extra” comma.

But then I started editing for an assessment test publishing company. Educational publishers favor the serial comma.

And then I started editing proposals for tech companies that have corporate style guides based on Government Printing Office (GPO) style, which calls for serial commas.

And then for five years I was immersed in book publishing. Book publishers have corporate style guides based on Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), which also calls for serial commas.

Today, for nearly everything that goes through Dragonfly Editorial, we use serial commas. That’s because most of our clients use styles based on GPO (for tech editing) or the AMA Manual of Style (for medical editing). Both dictate use of the serial comma.

After five years of deleting those commas and 10 years of putting them back in, the serial comma and I have become friends. I appreciate its ability to clarify where one item in a list ends and another begins—which can be difficult to discern in the technical material that we edit.

But whether I like the serial comma or not isn’t important. What is important is knowing what the client wants.

In the latest edition of The Copyeditor’s Handbook, author Amy Einsohn touches on the debate:

The other issue concerns the so-called serial comma, which is the comma before the and or or that precedes the last item in a list. Chicago, WIT, APA, and CSE all either require or strongly recommend the serial comma, but most newspapers and magazines use the serial comma only when needed to avoid ambiguity. Ask your editorial coordinator about house policy.

And so, we can agree to disagree. And any time I go back to newspaper or magazine writing, I better be ready to check my “extra” commas at the door.

Dragonfly Editorial project manager Amy Paradysz thanks her Facebook friends for reminding her that details do indeed matter to people who are not editors—even if we disagree on the specifics.

Tags: commas, Editorial Services, Punctuation
Posted in Copyediting, Proofreading, Punctuation | 2 comments »