Correspondence Courses

Hello:
I am new to the board. I have absolutely nothing published>: I love to write and am strongly considering delving into the world of proofreading and editing. Can anyone tell me of any online or correspondence courses they took that would at least help them obtain the basics needed to begin freelance proofreading?

Sherri

editing

as a mentor to aspiring writers of all breeds, all over the world, all i do all day long is edit work that needs work... to be an editor/proofreader, you should be a good writer... or at the very least, must be a good reader with top-level language skills... there's no course for this i'd recommend... only a lifetime of lots of reading and having an inborn talent for discerning the good from the bad will fit you for this kind of work...

the proof is in the pudding... i'll be glad to give you some feedback on your abilities, if you email me... i can send you a piece of work from one of my mentees and you can 'edit' it... then i'll edit your editing... if this would help, you can contact me at: [email protected]

love and hugs, maia

Also Write Style has a proofreading course for $99. I am a bit hesitant about taking a course but how else will I learn the field. I do not have time to go to a traditional school. Any thoughts?

Like singing...writing is an art form. You either have the abilities or you don't - you can either make a paragraph sing or you can't and no one can teach you those skills.

If you have basic spelling and grammar skills; are able to differentiate between active and passive voices and know when to use them; and know how to communicate effectively that's about all you need.

Any other thoughts? Anyone....anyone....

I have a thought!

One other occurs to me McInnes. Many newspapers, and some periodicals, use specific style books like the Chicago (Tribune?) stylebook, Globe & Mail stylebook etc. A working knowledge of one or two of them might be necessary for some proofing jobs.

I hope I have another thought tomorrow. They're kind of exhilarating.

Re: I have a thought!

Wow! Thanks for all your inspiring thoughts. Keep em coming I really do appreciate. On a side note.........I am sooo happy we picked up our 2003 Mountaineer tonight.Yippee.