Earlier in the day Jess arranged a Skype call with Hilary Hammond, an experienced copy editor who has worked for both trade and academic publishers and works predominantly freelance. She gave us an introduction to her career and there was chance for Q&A after. I asked her a question about the main differences between trade and academic publishing and what challenges she faces with each. Another student asked about freelance work and how to get into working freelance, which has always been on the horizon for me as the flexibility is very appealing. She said that it is not consistent work as it is working for a publishing house but it is possible to make your own hours. I found the time spent talking to Hilary very insightful and made me think about freelance work and what a real career is like in copy editing.

For our last copy editing lesson, and our last day of term, Jess provided us with festive themed texts to copy edit with coloured pens. This was good to have final practice in a laid back class. The class was very group discussion based as we talked through the different texts and the various ways of marking up and correcting each one.

I have learned many skills in the first semester of the course and I am eager to see what the next term has in stall for us.