September | 2014 | Anneli's Place

SO title There’s humour in everything—birth, death and all of the intricate details in between that we refer to as life. Then there’s love …
In my next novel, Sweet Occasions, Katie’s life is consumed with following her dream, after she sets up her own bakery.
As everything begins to fall apart, so does her relationship with Steve, but can it be salvaged? Then there’s Adam, doting father to Lily, who drifts into her life. Maybe I should say ‘drips’ into her life …

“How can I help you?” I ask politely.
No response is forthcoming as the seconds slowly tick by. He appears to have lost the power of speech and I struggle to mask the grin that keeps creeping across my face. I watch as a rivulet of water snakes down from his sodden hair and he raises his sleeve to wipe it away. I can’t stop my eyes from straying to the floor and I see that he’s standing in what appears to be quite a large puddle. He observes me checking it out, but says nothing. The seconds continue to pass and I wait patiently, wondering why anyone would venture out on a day like this so totally unprepared to battle the elements.
He shifts from one foot to the other, and then runs his hand through his hair in an attempt to sweep the wet tendrils off his forehead.
“Sssorry, I’m a llllittle wet.”
Well, that’s an understatement if ever I heard one. He’s embarrassed and I swallow a chuckle, disguising it with a cough.
“Um … I just need something … small,” he continues, sounding hesitant.
He’s looking directly at me as if that should mean something.
“Small?”
“Yes.”
I’m frowning, so I slide back into smiley-face mode and pick up one of our leaflets. I spread it out on the counter and he leans forward to look at the array of cakes. As he moves his head a few drops of rain flick up into the air, splatting across the front of my blouse and landing on the counter. He looks mortified.
“Um,” he mutters weakly. He looks up at me, a blank expression on his face.

It’s a chance encounter that has her trying very hard to hide a smirk. What sort of guy would leave home so inadequately dressed on such a stormy day? As the puddle of water in which he’s standing grows, so does her sympathy. It’s one memory that will stick in her mind for a long time …

Coming 23 September, 2014:

SO LBH med Katie’s relationship has had more than its fair share of problems. After a difficult few years things begin to pick up and Katie finally realises her dream of opening up a bakery. Sweet Occasions specialises in novelty and celebration cakes, plus the most inspiring range of cupcakes anyone could possibly ask for!
Utilising her passion and skill helps to inject happiness back into her life, but it’s short-lived as things begin to fall apart. The reality is that you need to run a business with your heart AND your head. Help is at hand in the shape of her partner, Steve. He has the necessary experience, but does Katie want to tie herself to him financially, as well as personally?
Then one rainy, wintry day a bedraggled customer steps inside the door to order a cake …
Sometimes a turning point centres around one single moment in time. Sometimes it takes two Christmases and three birthdays.

Website (linnbhalton.co.uk)
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You start reading a book and are just getting into it when you notice a repeated word. Oh well, you shake your head and continue. On the next page you find the verb “to lie” misused, and you feel irritated. Still, it’s a good story and you want to find out what happens, so you continue. Then you see glaring punctuation mistakes in the dialogue. At this point you begin to wonder if the author knows anything about writing. You had hoped at first that they were just typos, but repeated errors and misused words (such as “peek” instead of “peak”) now have you wondering if you can stand to read a whole book of this quality no matter how enthralling the plot is.

As an author, I would be embarrassed to publish something like this, but often we can’t see our own mistakes. On re-reading our work, our brain tells us that the words say what we intended. Our eyes gloss over the errors because, we already know what it says–we think! This is why all authors need a good copy-editor. Our reputation hinges on publishing good, clean writing.

Most writers like to feel confident that their written work is free of errors. The truth is that often they are too close to their work to notice the errors that may be there.

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What I Can Do for You

Whether you have written a newspaper or magazine article, children’s book, short story, novel, or a university textbook, I can help you to make that work perfect.

I will read your work, checking for correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, balance in verb tenses, and word usage. I will verify cross-referenced material and look for any inconsistencies in your work.

I use the Track Changes feature in Word to point out errors. This gives you the option of accepting or rejecting my suggestions without jeopardizing your original work.

If you wish, I can make recommendations for alternate wording to remedy awkward phrasing. If you need help in writing down your ideas, I can do that. I will edit your work unobtrusively.

I am comfortable and competent in editing work that is interspersed with German, French, and Spanish, including bibliographies that may contain foreign titles.

How to Send Me Your Work

You can send me your work as an email attachment, preferably as a Word file.

My Rates

(US) $.01 per word for complete proofreading and copy-editing, checking for grammar, punctuation, word usage, and inconsistencies. I will do three pages for free so you can see the quality of my work before you decide if you’d like to hire me.

Rates are negotiable depending on the job. Discounts available for greater word counts.

Contact Information

Anneli Purchase

Email: anneli.purchase33@gmail.com

Qualifications

25 years of teaching
19 years experience with copy-editing, as well as writing and editing novels and articles
Have attended creative writing workshops and conferences
Have edited university-level books and articles in Ancient History as well as in the Sciences
Can translate from German to English and have a good basic knowledge of French and Spanish
Will re-write work for you if desired
Can suggest changes to improve your writing if that is what you would like
Have a keen eye for grammar, word usage, spelling, punctuation and balance in verb tenses
References available