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Words Matter Week Begins Today!

March 3, 2024 Post a comment

Words Matter Week, which is in its 16th year, is a holiday that is celebrated annually the first full week in March by the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors.

Words are the basis for communication, no matter the language spoken. Babies make sounds, which eventually are formed into words. Here at NAIWE, we know the importance of words, and we want to celebrate it!

We may only celebrate it for a week, but we believe in the importance of words all year long!

 

Spread the Word

Join us in promoting Words Matter Week! You have NAIWE’s permission to reproduce the poster on your website, with a link back to this page, and you may also print and display it. Please invite your friends to participate in this year’s event and show your support for Words Matter Week by placing the poster in your newsletter, on your blog, or in your social media. Words really do matter, so let’s spread the reminders!

 

Prepare for the Writing Challenge

During Words Matter Week, we host a writing challenge. Each day we will post a question on our blog and various social media outlets.

Respond to the question on your blog or social media page (be sure to include #WMW2024, #WMW, or #NAIWE in your response), and then link back to it in the comments of the corresponding article on the NAIWE blog. For each challenge you respond to, you will receive one entry (and a bonus entry for each response written on your NAIWE blog).

At the end of the week, we will have a drawing, and one person will win a fabulous prize, along with a mention and link in the next newsletter.

Categories: Events, National Days, News, Words Matter Week, Writing

Susan Treadgold, NAIWE’s Personal Energy Expert

March 1, 2024 Post a comment

We wanted to get to know Susan Treadgold (NAIWE’s Personal Energy Expert) better, so last month we sat down with her. Here are some thoughts she shared with us.

Are the contents of this webinar just for women?

The content of the webinar is targeted at women, but men are welcome and will also benefit.

 

When many of us think of energy, we relate it to physical activities. What makes up the energy that you will be talking to us about?

Everything is energy. Anything that we come in contact with — be it food, a thought, or another person — it all either enhances or detracts from our energy.

 

Is it true that taking small actions are better than taking no actions? How do you recommend starting to build energy in our day?

Taking action and creating small habits that we continue to “stack” is the path to exponential energy. It all starts with a morning routine — to set up your day, week, month, and life — that you don’t need a vacation from!

——————

Join us for a masterclass with best-selling author Susan Treadgold as she unveils the secrets behind the six habits of high-performing women, with a focus on ENERGY. Susan Treadgold, international executive coach and an award-winning speaker, will share her wisdom gleaned from two decades in investment banking and a phenomenal 15-year coaching career.

Are you tired of feeling drained and overwhelmed? Ready to banish burnout once and for all? Drawing on a pool of extensive research driven, science-backed tools and strategies, Susan Treadgold will equip you with the keys to identify, master, and turbocharge your energy levels.

Brace yourself for a live event that will change the game.

You can join in this conversation on March 27 at 2:00 pm eastern, when NAIWE will host a discussion on developing more energy for every day. The cost for NAIWE members is only $10! Nonmembers can join for $30. Register today!

 

Susan Treadgold is a holistic high-performance coach, speaker, and multiple #1 best-selling author with nearly two decades of investment banking experience at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup. She empowers women to have more energy and success with the use of science-backed high-performance habits, executive presence, training and a personally curated longevity portfolio of cutting edge biohacking products. She is an award-winning artist, host of The High-Performing Woman talk show, and on the leadership committee of 5050 Women on Boards. She is a proud mother of two teenagers. Family is her love language, and as a board member of Roots of Promise, she is passionate about helping less fortunate kids.

Categories: Board of Experts, Events, Professional Development

Book Review: How Not to Make Small Talk

February 26, 2024 Post a comment

2023 NAIWE Coffee Table Book Winner

 

How Not to Make Small Talk: The Unauthorized Rules for Inoffensive Small Talk

Author: Erin Berkery

Life is filled with situations calling for small talk. Company meeting. Office holiday party. Family get together. Supermarket run in. Community event.

However, many people are not good at making in small talk. In this book, Erin Berkery amusingly highlights the entertaining aspects of the pointless conversations people have almost every day.

The book began with an introduction that seemed a bit long for a quick read until the topic was unveiled. Setting the stage for the rest of the book, the author’s enjoyable and humorous tone made this well-known human interaction an entertaining topic (rather than the mild agony of stepping on a Lego, the author’s metaphor for participating in some forms of small talk).

Part 1 highlights some topics that should never be part of small talk conversations — some of which are! Erin provides reasons why each should not be a topic and includes sample conversations to highlight the points. The author even makes up statistics that almost sound plausible to add humor to the topic.

Erin’s numerous footnotes revel in the humorous tone, which add more personal thoughts on the topic and may stir up more smiles and laughter from the reader.

At the conclusion of each topic is a selection of three slightly horrible strategies to try. These small talk conversation starters never to try are witty and humorous. Although the selection seems a bit random and may have been more beneficial to the reader if the “horrible strategies” directly related to the topic that had just concluded.

The final section of the book includes several lists. First is a list of divisive small talk ideas, followed by a list of questions to confuse others. These lists are equally entertaining and include a few items the reader may want to try purely for the entertainment factor. The book concludes with a list of ways to end a conversation. While some may be a bit outrageous, others may be good ways to end a conversation that is dragging on.

This 95-page book with 57 witty footnotes makes for a fun read while waiting to be called into a doctor’s office or your boss’s office, preparing you for what not to say!

Congratulations, Erin Berkery’s How Not to Make Small Talk: The Unauthorized Rules for Inoffensive Small Talk for being a NAIWE 2023 Book Award winner!

Categories: Book Award Winners, Book Reviews

Days to Celebrate in March

February 23, 2024 Post a comment

March: Small Press Month. Shine the light on many of the great authors, and publishing houses, around the world.

March 2: National Read Across America Day (Dr. Seuss Day). This day is a motivational and awareness day, calling all children and youth in every community across the United States to celebrate reading.

March 4: National Grammar Day. Some people might suggest that grammar is a set of rules for language, but it is a system for understanding language.

March 3-9: Words Matter Week. Words are the basis for communication, no matter the language spoken. Even babies make sounds, which eventually are formed into words. Here at NAIWE, we know the importance of words, and we want to celebrate it! Participate in daily writing prompts to win a fabulous prize!

March 3-9: Read an E-book Week. This is an opportunity for book lovers and writers alike to share their passion in digital form.

March 8: National Proofreading Day. This day was created to bring awareness to the importance of proofreading.

March 14: National Write Down Your Story Day. This day challenges you to tell your story in written form.

March 30: National Pencil Day. Hymen Lipman received the first patent for attaching an eraser to the end of a pencil on this day in 1858.

Categories: National Days

NAIWE On Your Side

February 16, 2024 Post a comment

As a professional association, NAIWE is committed to helping its members succeed. All NAIWE members receive tools and training to help them grow in their profession, support as they meet professional challenges, and opportunities to develop their marketing skills so that they can create the kind of career they want.

No matter the service freelancers provide, they need to belong to a strong professional organization. NAIWE provides freelancers with an online presence, assistance in using their NAIWE website, and marketing support through our social media channels and our monthly newsletters. At NAIWE, we seek to provide the place where people come and receive the warm, personal touch that they deserve as they develop their career.

Your membership in an association demonstrates commitment, credibility, and professionalism.

You don’t have to be traditionally published before you join NAIWE. You don’t even have to specialize in just one area — we realize that professionals can find many ways to earn a freelance living. Most of us don’t have the luxury of writing only fiction, editing only academic monographs, or designing book covers only for New York Times best-selling authors. In fact, we encourage NAIWE members to create multiple streams of income because it’s your best guarantee of financial stability.

 

April Michelle Davis, NAIWE Executive Director

April Michelle Davis has been the executive director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) since 2018. Prior to that, she was NAIWE’s Social Media Marketing Expert. NAIWE is an association that focuses on career building for writers, editors, and other professionals in the publishing industry by developing multiple streams of income; it helps its members market their products and services through social media, newsletters, and more.

She is also the coordinator for the Virginia chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association, a lifetime member of the American Copy Editors Society, and a freelance editor, indexer, proofreader, and author. April Michelle has taught courses through her own company, Editorial Inspirations, as well as for associations and colleges on topics such as editing, indexing, grammar, writing, and creating macros.

Her credentials include a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Messiah College, as well as certificates in editing (University of Virginia), book publishing (University of Virginia), and professional editing (EEI Communications).

April Michelle has shared her insights about her career development by contributing quotes and vignettes to several books. She has presented sessions on various editorial topics to many groups, including the Virginia Writers Club, the Communication Central conference, Randolph-Macon College, the Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network, the EFA, Copyediting newsletter, RavenCon, and the Hanover Book Festival. In addition, April Michelle has published three books.

Categories: Marketing, News, Writing

Member Benefit: Member of the Month

February 9, 2024 Post a comment

Member Benefit #12

You have the opportunity to be interviewed as the featured member of the month on the NAIWE podcast and blog and in The Edge: Success Strategies for People Who Work with Words, one of NAIWE’s newsletters. This benefit has great PR potential, as you can post the recording of your podcast interview on your own site, and it will be archived on the NAIWE website for as long as you remain a member of NAIWE. This interview will provide an opportunity for you to share your story with readers or potential clients and network with other members. And the positive press helps to build your career!

Visit the NAIWE website to see all of the member benefits.

Categories: Member Benefits

Jennia D’Lima, NAIWE’s Creative Nonfiction Expert

February 2, 2024 Post a comment

We wanted to get to know Jennia D’Lima (NAIWE’s Creative Nonfiction Expert) better, so last month we sat down with her. Here are some thoughts she shared with us.

Do all types of life experiences make for good material for a memoir?

They all have the potential to be used to write a riveting memoir. On the other hand, even the most extraordinary life events can fall flat if style falls flat, the voice reads as inauthentic, or the pacing is off. Much like when writing a fictional narrative, these story elements contribute as much to a story’s readability as the plot or events do on their own.

 

At what point in an individual’s life are they ready to write their memoir?

Readiness is dictated by the intensity of the emotions that still surround the events being written about and has nothing to do with an author’s age or their life circumstances. It’s important to note that an honest emotional assessment needs to come before any outlining or writing. Writing before the emotions have settled and been processed has the potential to harm the author rather than help them find catharsis or share their story in a way that could benefit others.

 

Are there different types of memoirs?

Yes! There are multiple types or sub-genres when it comes to the memoir category. Summarizing each one would take an entire article, but popular subgenres include the celebrity memoir, the travel memoir (Bill Bryson is one of my favorite travel memoir authors, though he’s written books in other creative nonfiction categories as well), and the transformational memoir (overcoming some type of addiction is a popular theme seen in this subgenre). Many memoirs will fit into multiple subgenres, so I advise authors to not worry about figuring out which one is the best fit for their manuscript.

——————

You’ve lived through some harrowing, unique, life-changing, or otherwise fascinating events. You’re certain that a memoir is the best way to share these experiences and maybe even change someone else’s life or become their source of inspiration. But before you begin, it can be helpful to ask yourself a series of questions to determine whether writing a memoir is right for you. This webinar will use these questions to define what a memoir is and what it isn’t while also addressing an individual’s emotional readiness to share their story.

You can join in this conversation on February 13 at 7:00 pm eastern, when NAIWE will host a discussion on determining if writing a memoir is right for you. The cost for NAIWE members is only $10! Nonmembers can join for $30. Register today!

 

Jennia Herold D’Lima is a full-blown logophile. She joined her high school’s newspaper in ninth grade, winning statewide awards for her writing, and expanded her journalism skills by continuing to write and edit throughout her high school years and as a college freshman. While earning her BA in psychology (and minoring in cultural anthropology with a focus on precolonial Mesoamerica) and her MA in applied developmental psychology, her writing and editing naturally skewed toward all things academic. Writing for and publishing in peer-reviewed journals, editing papers for classmates, and writing parenting resource guides honed her research skills. Jennia joined multiple professor-led research groups and completed four internships throughout her academic career. After graduating with a master’s, she worked at a national nonprofit in Washington, DC, and as an assistant researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle. Jennia gradually transitioned to full-time editing. She is the host of the Writing & Editing podcast. Jennia enjoys traveling, volunteering, and taking creative photos of books and book-related items in those rare moments when she is not reading or editing.

Categories: Board of Experts, Events, Professional Development

Book Review: Pebbles and the Biggest Number

January 29, 2024 Post a comment

2023 NAIWE Children’s Book Winner

 

Pebbles and the Biggest Number

Author: Joey Benun

Children love to learn, and children love color, and Pebbles and the Biggest Number plays into both elements, attracting kids of a variety of ages. Even before opening the book, the attractiveness of the cover easily catches a reader’s attention, and the illustrations show that this will be a fun book about big numbers.

Readers will quickly find out that the copyright page is the insightful navigator of the book as it includes questions for children to ponder, tips on how to explore the book, and ideas for interacting with the numbers.

This is not a typical book that teaches children about numbers. The book does not begin with the number one and continue through a handful of numbers. Instead, Pebbles the butterfly loves numbers but is bored with the small numbers that surround him. And so he set off on a journey to find the biggest number.

On his journey, Pebbles asks his animal friends for the biggest number they know, each sharing a number and relating that number to another learning concept.

As if learning about numbers wasn’t enough, the book includes additional information to pique the interest of readers. Science Spot teaches about the insect and animal characters. Number Note teaches about another way to think about the number explored on the given page. Did You Know teaches a concept related to the scene on the page. Fun Fact adds even more information for the readers to learn.

Pebbles and the Biggest Number concludes with a Dig Deeper section, which includes new words for the reader to learn. These pages continue with the colorful theme and include images of the friends Pebbles has met along his journey. This section ends with a nice summary chart of the numbers learned throughout the book, showing them in another format to help the reader understand them even better.

This was a delightful book to read, and the effort that went in to making this book highly educational and extremely inviting and entertaining was obvious. Such an informative read even for the parents who can learn about the big numbers of life!

Congratulations, Joey Benun’s Pebbles and the Biggest Number for being a NAIWE 2023 Book Award winner!

Categories: Book Award Winners, Book Reviews

Days to Celebrate in February

January 26, 2024 2 Comments

February: National Self-Check Month. Take charge of your health, and increase your odds of avoiding chronic diseases or other preventable diseases.

February: Free and Open Source Software Month. Recognize the cooperative approach to computer programming, open licensing, and free distribution of software.

February: National Library Lover’s Month. Enjoy your library, but also consider volunteering your time this month in a library.

February 1: National Get Up Day. This is a day to persevere, to pick ourselves up when we’ve fallen. We never know when our efforts to seek a goal or overcome an obstacle will encourage another person.

February 4: National Thank a Mail Carrier Day. As a small business, you likely work your mail carrier a little harder. Let’s take time out of our day to thank the mail person who is responsible for getting your mail in your mailbox six days a week.

February 5-11: National Freelance Writers Appreciation Week. Celebrate these hardworking writers by showing some gratitude, highlighting a fun behind-the-scenes moment.

February 7: National Send a Card to a Friend Day. Send a note to a colleague or client to let them know you are thinking about them.

February 8: National Giving Hearts Day. Make a donation from your business to a charity that you love.

February 11: National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day. Think positive. Don’t worry and don’t stress over the little things. Life is too short.

February 11: National Make a Friend Day. Get to know one of your clients a little better. Meeting new people can help sharpen our social skills and keep us from becoming lonely.

February 12: National Clean Out Your Computer Day. Over time, files and programs that are unused clog the memory of your computer. This is a day to take some time to do the needed care on your computers. Organize your files and folders. Delete junk files. Delete duplicate files. Delete old files and programs that are not being used.

February 17: National Random Acts of Kindness Day. Write a note or do something nice for one of your clients today.

February 20. National Leadership Day. Throughout every day, someone influences another person in every interaction. Take a moment today to thank someone who has had a positive effect on your life.

February 20. National Comfy Day. Spend a few moments today to get comfy and enjoy a good book!

February 26: National Tell a Fairy Tale Day. Share a favorite fairy tale with friends or family.

Categories: National Days

Illuminating My Profession

January 19, 2024 Post a comment

I recently received a call from a woman looking to become a proofreader. She wanted advice to break into the field. It had been a while since I have received this type of call, but this is a call that I do receive periodically.

When I receive this type of call, I recommend they join at least one association and in the discussion list and any trainings the association may offer. While rarely is a degree or certificate involved with the completion of the training, these classes are beneficial because they are taught by professionals in the field who have direct, regular, and current experience and knowledge in the industry.

In addition, I recommend they attend in-person events so they can network with colleagues and pass out (and collect) business cards.

Finally, I recommend they review my resume. I don’t know their entire background, but I share my resume so they can see how I got where I am. Then they can use my resume to gain ideas about where to go next. My resume includes potential conferences to attend, classes to take, certificates to complete, or degrees to pursue.

When someone looking to enter your field contacts you, what are some recommendations you share?

 

April Michelle Davis, NAIWE Executive Director

April Michelle Davis has been the executive director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) since 2018. Prior to that, she was NAIWE’s Social Media Marketing Expert. NAIWE is an association that focuses on career building for writers, editors, and other professionals in the publishing industry by developing multiple streams of income; it helps its members market their products and services through social media, newsletters, and more.

She is also the coordinator for the Virginia chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association, a lifetime member of the American Copy Editors Society, and a freelance editor, indexer, proofreader, and author. April Michelle has taught courses through her own company, Editorial Inspirations, as well as for associations and colleges on topics such as editing, indexing, grammar, writing, and creating macros.

Her credentials include a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Messiah College, as well as certificates in editing (University of Virginia), book publishing (University of Virginia), and professional editing (EEI Communications).

April Michelle has shared her insights about her career development by contributing quotes and vignettes to several books. She has presented sessions on various editorial topics to many groups, including the Virginia Writers Club, the Communication Central conference, Randolph-Macon College, the Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network, the EFA, Copyediting newsletter, RavenCon, and the Hanover Book Festival. In addition, April Michelle has published three books.

 

Categories: News, Proofreading

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Days to Celebrate in August

July 25, 2025

Member Benefit: Discount on Geoff Hart’s Effective Onscreen Editing

July 11, 2025

Days to Celebrate in July

June 27, 2025

NAIWE.org! The New NAIWE Website Is Live!

June 20, 2025

Member Benefit: Discount on Fictionary’s An Insider’s View of Story Editing Course

June 13, 2025

Book Review: Lizard Larson and the Time Keeper

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