June 2010 Newsletter

Editing, Proofreading & Resume
June 2010 Newsletter
from the desk of
Shelly Rosenberg
www.shellyrosenberg.com

Early Summer Greetings

Summer is on its way. Many students are on summer break and people are planning summer vacations. Enjoy!

In this issue of my newsletter, I will be discussing the following topics.

· The Video Resume
· Common Grammatical or Spelling Errors
· Author Tips – some tidbits regarding that manuscript you want to send to an agent or publisher
· Update on Worldwide Project

The Video Resume

In this challenging job market, some new and exciting tools have been developed to help the job seeker. The video resume is a dynamic medium to put you in front of hiring managers via video to better show them your personality and style.

You make a short video showing your most important features, explaining your main skills and expertise. This video is uploaded to the Internet, where potential employers can view it.

I recently spoke with Mark Scrivner of SnapShot Interactive who described his video resume service to me. You can contact Mark or see samples of the video resume by going to www.snapshotinteractive.com .

Please let me know if you create and use a video resume. I would like to be able to report how this new feature is working in the marketplace.

Common Grammatical or Spelling Errors

One of the most common errors that I have found, particularly on resumes, is the incorrect use of the verb to lead. I am not sure if people make the error as a spelling or grammatical error since the sounds of the words can be the same or different in different situations. Here is how to use this commonly used word:

Present Tense
I lead
you lead
he or she leads
we lead
you (plural) lead
they lead

Past Tense
I led
you led
he or she led
we led
you led
they led

Sentence examples -
· Currently, I lead a team of programmers developing a computer project.
· Last year, I led a team of writers who were working on a new manual.


The item in pencils is lead. This is pronounced the same as the past tense of the verb - led - but is spelled lead.



Another common error I have found in papers is the confusion between the words lose and loose.

Lose is the opposite of find.
Loose is the opposite of tight.

Sentence examples –

· If I do not put my keys in my purse, I will lose them.
· When I lost ten pounds, my clothes felt loose on me.

Author Tips
I read an interesting article by Linnea Sinclair that outlines the pet peeves of publishers who receive manuscripts from authors wanting to be published. Here is a summary of the article. Linnea queried several people and asked each their pet peeves.
The first responded that unnatural dialogue and too many unnecessary characters were the worst aspects of manuscripts read. By unnatural dialogue she meant the way a college professor would talk would be greatly different from a factory worker and that must be conveyed in the story.
The next publisher’s reader/editor stated that too much backstory was a pet peeve. She stated that the writer should tell the story through the actions and the characters instead of specifically writing the background events. This was especially distracting in the introductory chapter of the novel.
Another stated that the most annoying aspect of writing was poor mechanics such as spelling, grammar, and general format.
Keep these items in mind when writing your novel, manuscript, or book. If you employ me to edit your manuscript, I will point out if your work exhibits any of these “pet peeves,” and help you to correct them.
Worldwide Project Report - Update

Some of you might remember that I began this project in 2007. Let me explain it here. I have mounted a world map on the wall in my office and have used “map pins” to mark the locations where my clients live. At that time, I had worked with clients from 21 countries in the world and from 32 states in the US.

I have not put a new pin in the map for every new client but I have put in a new pin for every client from a new country or state in the US. Here is the update. I now have clients from 60 countries and from 44 states in the US. You can see a list of the countries and states on my website at
http://www.shellyrosenberg.com/countries.htm .


Please contact me if you need a new resume, or need your written work edited and proofread.

Best wishes.

“My goal is to enhance your text in a way that makes it clear and error free so that it is ready to be read by your professor, your readership, your clients, your future employer, your current employer, your agent or your publisher.”
Shelly Rosenberg

Shelly@ShellyRosenberg.com