Wasting Time ...
I have been paying attention to HOW I do what I do during the day so that I can cut out all the terrible time wasters and be more efficient so that I don't sit there at night and wonder why I didn't finish half of what I wanted to do. Here is an example from this morning already:
* I am editing an article that needs to be formatted a certain way.
* I check the style guide and then go to my hard drive and open an edited file of one of those types of articles from the last issue I worked on. The formats don't match. I spend about 2 minutes wondering about whether the PE changed the style for this issue on the style sheet. Should I go with that style now? But it's the last issue in the volume, so maybe earlier articles in this volume now won't match up.
* I look around my desk for 2 minutes to try to find this journal folder I keep of all examples, style guides, etc. I realize I never got it out for this job, so I walk to the case and take out the folder, then flip through it and look at sample pages of this type of article that I printed out for myself. But wait, these samples are from 5 years ago now when I had the journal at my previous job. Damn.
* I go online to see a sample of this type of article from a more recent issue to compare the style. I can't access a free peek without my account. (Although I asked for free access to their online PDFs, the client never got back to me on that, so I had to set up a regular person account to try to see some free issues.) I look for my account access information in my stack of passwords I keep, but can't find it. I try logging into the Web site with numerous possibilities but am denied. I go through two different email address accounts and their folders looking for the email that tells me my access info, but can't find it. This eats away tons of time, which I finally realize.
* I get frustrated that I have wasted so much time and finally just decide to set this article up the way that the style sheet indicates because the articles are basically formatted that way now and so someone on the other end is probably moving toward a new format.
The lesson here is that I should not bother wasting my time trying to verify all this info. If the client does not provide me with direct access to current online material and they do provide me with a style sheet, then I should just go with what the sheet tells me to do and not worry about this. But of course, I can't NOT worry about it, because that is what I do: ensure consistency. It's a trap.
Then of course I blog about it ...
I have been paying attention to HOW I do what I do during the day so that I can cut out all the terrible time wasters and be more efficient so that I don't sit there at night and wonder why I didn't finish half of what I wanted to do. Here is an example from this morning already:
* I am editing an article that needs to be formatted a certain way.
* I check the style guide and then go to my hard drive and open an edited file of one of those types of articles from the last issue I worked on. The formats don't match. I spend about 2 minutes wondering about whether the PE changed the style for this issue on the style sheet. Should I go with that style now? But it's the last issue in the volume, so maybe earlier articles in this volume now won't match up.
* I look around my desk for 2 minutes to try to find this journal folder I keep of all examples, style guides, etc. I realize I never got it out for this job, so I walk to the case and take out the folder, then flip through it and look at sample pages of this type of article that I printed out for myself. But wait, these samples are from 5 years ago now when I had the journal at my previous job. Damn.
* I go online to see a sample of this type of article from a more recent issue to compare the style. I can't access a free peek without my account. (Although I asked for free access to their online PDFs, the client never got back to me on that, so I had to set up a regular person account to try to see some free issues.) I look for my account access information in my stack of passwords I keep, but can't find it. I try logging into the Web site with numerous possibilities but am denied. I go through two different email address accounts and their folders looking for the email that tells me my access info, but can't find it. This eats away tons of time, which I finally realize.
* I get frustrated that I have wasted so much time and finally just decide to set this article up the way that the style sheet indicates because the articles are basically formatted that way now and so someone on the other end is probably moving toward a new format.
The lesson here is that I should not bother wasting my time trying to verify all this info. If the client does not provide me with direct access to current online material and they do provide me with a style sheet, then I should just go with what the sheet tells me to do and not worry about this. But of course, I can't NOT worry about it, because that is what I do: ensure consistency. It's a trap.
Then of course I blog about it ...
4 Comments:
At Tue Jun 03, 08:49:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
I feel your pain. I've been in that trap. And I've really come to no stellar conclusion on how to avoid it, even though I've been trying for years.
As freelancers, we're not really kept in the loop about changes taking place in-house. There is a tug inside me that says I can't keep asking a million questions over every darn thing. Half the time when I ask, I uncover an egregious error in-house and we're all relieved and happy. The other half, what they've given me is what they want (even though it does not seem to make sense) and the reply is sort of bemused, like "Why are you asking this? Didn't you read the paperwork I sent? Freelancers sure a funny and difficult to work with, haha."
There can sometimes be an unfortunate "us v. them" mentality and it does not help create better work. Freelancing is such a head game, and editors who have only worked in-house don't really have any notion of what we're wrangling here at home, way before the actual project work gets accomplished.
When I started freelancing, I thought that doing a good job was as much for the client's benefit as it was for my own benefit, but I don't think this anymore. I've recently felt that I am actually freelancing for me. Just me. And I've personally lost interest in educating editors on how to "get the most from working with freelancers" so that my own work time can be spent more efficiently. I wish I could have been part of the team and had projects work like clockwork, but it seems like every time I had gotten a good rapport with an editor, they'd be off to some other job. Usually one where they no longer need me (permissions editing is an odd niche).
For myself, I've decided that there is no such thing as total efficiency and the best that I can do is embrace the only true power I have when I become dissatisfied: Find better clients. Then fire the lousy ones.
At Tue Jun 03, 10:28:00 PM,
Amy said…
I was a Production Editor/Supervisor for 15 years (doing freelance at night) before this freelance full time, and I was the one there who hired and trained the freelancers, so I try to be kind of freelancer now that I loved to work with then. The thing was, when I was a PE, we provided detailed cover letters with each project to indicate what changes were permanent or temporary or new, and we would actually adjust the files before they got to the CE. As a PE, I would get upset when a CE did not pay attention to the letter, so that is why I attend to all details now, like each part of a style guide. As you said, I don't want to ever hear "Didn't you read the paperwork?"
Luckily I don't feel us vs. them, and I really like my clients. But because I was on the PE side for so long, I expect a lot from PEs, I guess. I expect to be in the loop because I kept my CEs in the loop, and I know it can be done.
Honestly, most clients keep me VERY in the loop and send lots of details about what should be done. Now I just need to trust that I got all of what I need to know and go with that.
I am sure the permissions work has its own particularities!
At Wed Jun 04, 01:10:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Interesting. The key difference is probably that as a CE you're mostly dealing with the production department. But with permissions, I can hypothetically be hired anywhere in the book's life-cycle (even, *gulp*, AFTER the book has been published -- AAACK!).
I've been hired by authors, acquisitions editors, developmental editors, associates, assistants, and production editors. It's a real mixed bag from project to project and publisher to publisher. And I think that is probably part of the reason why my experiences with hiring managers can be weird, wild, and woolly.
My experience with production editors has been very good -- the ones I've known were thorough and rock steady. They were clear communicators with realistic expectations -- and when they asked for a miracle and I delivered one they said thank you. I love PEs. Unfortunately, permissions projects are best completed BEFORE production starts, so I am sadly not in enough contact with PEs.
At Thu Jun 05, 07:41:00 PM,
Amy said…
I would love to say that the "AFTER the book has been published" shocks me, but it doesn't. At my previous co. we had a permissions person for a little while, but most of my years it was the PE who tracked down the pemissions. Of course, in journal articles, that is usually only one or two things once in a while. Song lyrics were a pain, and not one author ever understood why you couldn't just pull a poem off the Internet and reprint it. ("Hey, it's on the Internet, so ...")
I really admire your work because I think permissions are underrated. I once had one of my poems used by someone for years without my permission in presentations. It didn't anger me and there was no income involved, but I really should have known about it.
Anyway, yes, PEs are usually great; I can see how you would deal with other editors and authors for your issues. In my experience, 1 out of 5 acq eds understand permissions and production like they should.
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