Button Belle Monthly Review: April 2024
Welcome, fellow writers, editors, and language enthusiasts! April has been a whirlwind of creativity and growth here at Button Belle Editorial Services! As I wrap up my first official month as an editor, it’s time to take a moment to reflect on the journey I’ve been on.
You may be thinking; ‘Sophie, your website has only been live for a week… What could you possibly have to reflect on so early?’
Well, let me tell you!
FIRST STEPS
How did I even get into the editing world in the first place?
It will come as no surprise to anybody in my personal life that I have ended up where I am now; I have always been something of a grammar freak. My love of English—and languages in general—led me to my university studies, which only furthered my fascination with the intricacies of the English language.
I very well could’ve set out to start my business right then and there; armed with a fancy degree and brand new knowledge and rules to brandish around… but I wanted more. Launching a business solely based on a qualification that earned me a generic linguistic knowledge with only a few areas of deep, specific insight would’ve felt crass. All of that and:
I had no idea how to approach a manuscript.
*
I passed my Proofreading and Editing diploma on April 5th with a distinction. Finally, I felt confident in not only my language skills but also the step-by-step process of tackling a manuscript and the work expected of both a proofreader and a copy editor. So, I took the steps to establish myself as a business and began the herculean task of website design.
WHAT I’VE BEEN WORKING ON…
What do you do with qualifications once you earn them?
While you may notice the stark gap between the date that I received my qualification and the date my business finally went live (one week ago); let me assure you that not a moment of that time in-between was spent idly.
When I started my website design journey on the evening of April 5th, I knew only two things:
The colour scheme I wanted for my brand.
I like mushrooms (aesthetically, and botanically; not recreationally).
Helpful, right?
Where do you go from there? Well, I used my second nugget of knowledge to help me brainstorm a good business name and took to Canva to create myself a logo; soon after, I took to picking out a template that had a similar colour scheme to the one in my head. I started filling the pre-existing homepage with information. That helped me get a good idea of what was important and where I wanted it all to go. Then I branched off, making individual pages for everything that I felt needed more than just a small paragraph to explain.
After that, it was simply* a case of tweaking visuals, sizes, and positions, until it felt like my website.
*simply… she says… it’s all I did for weeks
*
Once my website was ready to go and I hit that big scary ‘PUBLISH’ button, I was ready to endure weeks—even months—of radio silence while I fought against the odds to promote my services on social media before I would get to work on my first project.
Luckily for me, the universe was on my side.
On the very day that my services went live, I received correspondence from a very kind author willing to give a new face like me a chance. Because of that, I am currently knee-deep in my first-ever—official—proofreading project, and I can’t contain my excitement about how blessed I’ve been to be able to jump straight into work. I’m beyond determined to make sure the first author I get to work with comes away from this experience with a positive impression of my services and work ethic, and I intend to carry that energy forward to any and all of the authors I get to work with in the future.
WHAT I READ
…and what’s up next.
Are you really an avid reader if you don’t buy a brand-spanking-new series, and then ignore that series to immediately start reading a book that’s been staring longingly at you from your shelf for the past 3 years?
This month I finally got around to reading An English Murder by Cyril Hare. Nothing stimulates the mind more than a gripping mystery thriller; except, maybe, a Christmas mystery thriller. The way that the characters are each introduced had me suspecting everybody before the murder had even taken place.
I rocketed through this book despite my editor senses tingling every time I forgot that the story takes place in the 1950s—and, as would be expected, is written in such a voice. It kept me engaged and craving more with every chapter; I really got to experience the ‘Oh, just one more chapter and then I’m done for the night’ delusion in full force with this one.
Next on my list is Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear by Robin Wasley, which I’m absolutely champing at the bit to get started on.
…I just have to wait for the postie to hand over the copy I ordered…
‘But Sophie, you just bought a series,’ I hear you say.
Sometimes your TBR list has to stew for a while; until the stars align and the setting is just right.
With April behind me, I look towards May with hope in my heart that I will continue to be so lucky as to reach the eyes of more authors on the hunt for an editor. I am mere days from completing my first-ever proofreading project and I can’t hold back the excitement that I feel when I think about returning the finished project to the author.
Getting to dive straight into work has served to cement my certainty that this is, in fact, my passion; so, if there was ever any shadow of a doubt or lingering impostor syndrome, this opportunity has well and truly squashed it.
I’ll see you next week in a riveting blog post about everybody’s favourite thing… Punctuation! Until then:
Keep practising, keep learning, and most importantly, keep writing!
