Andrea ZaninMe: This edit is a bigger job than expected, could I have extra time?
Client: My deadline is firm. If you need to save time, just fix the most egregious problems.
Me: Sadly, that approach doesn't save time. It *adds* time, because I have to decide for each error whether it counts as egregious. ...
Yanno, conversations like this show me how even people who understand that editing is important enough to pay a professional often don't understand how it works. Which is fine, of course, but I wish their instinct was more often to *ask* what the best approach would be.
#editing #freelancerlife
(In this case, that is: I should do a thorough job on the running text and not touch the appendices, references or back matter at all. That way you get a fully cleaned-up text for your important people to read, and I fix all the fiddly technical bits at the end later.) #editing #freelancerlife