The Editing Software and Macro Packages I Use

A colleague asked what editing software I use. I'm happy to share that information, but what works for one editor may not be a good fit for other editors who work on manuscripts in different genres or even in different industries. I'm a medical editor, and here's my list:

• Macros for Editors, a free downloadable book of more than 450 macros for use in automating editing tasks

• Edifix, a cloud-based subscription service that edits, styles, links, and tags bibliographic references, using any of multiple standard styles

• FileCleaner, a collection of macros that cleans up common problems in electronic manuscripts within Microsoft Word, including multiple spaces, multiple returns, unnecessary tabs, and improperly typed ellipses (available for Windows and Macintosh)

• ListFixer, a collection of macros that fixes problems with automatically numbered lists and bulleted lists within Microsoft Word (available for Windows and Macintosh)

• NoteStripper, a collection of macros that allows the user to do several things within Microsoft Word to embedded and automatically numbered references and endnotes, including (1) stripping notes to or from the ends of sections or from the end of a document and (2) turning inline tagged notes into embedded notes (available for Windows and Macintosh)

• PerfectIt, a program for enforcing consistency on many levels throughout a manuscript (available for Windows and Macintosh)

• ReferenceChecker, a macro that works within Microsoft Word to verify whether each entry in a reference list is cited correctly in a manuscript; works with name–date citations and with numbered citations (available only for Windows). [Updated March 10, 2017.] Note: March 10, 2017, is the last day that you can buy and download a license for ReferenceChecker. It will no longer be sold by GoodCitations.com but will continue to work, depending on the version of Microsoft Word that you have, if you have downloaded the software and purchased a license.

• Stedman's Plus 2016 Medical/Pharmaceutical Spellchecker, standard edition, which integrates with Microsoft Word's spelling checker (available for Windows and Macintosh)

The Editorium, which creates and sells several of the Word add-ins and macro packages listed above, has other programs that editors find useful.

EditTools is a package of editing macros (available only for Windows) from wordsnSync that is frequently updated. As of this writing, it contains 36 macros to automate editing tasks, including Reference Number Order Check, the only macro I'm aware of that has been written to take human error out of the process of renumbering lists of out-of-order references.

For links to many more programs, macro packages, applications, blog posts, and style guides for editors, see the "Editing Tools" page of my Copyeditors' Knowledge Base.

Surviving Self-Employment When You're a Parent

I've been self-employed for 21 years, for the entire life-spans of two of my three children and now with three grandchildren around, so I know just how challenging it is to juggle parenting and freelancing, just as it is to juggle parenting and in-house employment. Erin Brenner has tips for surviving.

To the links she shares, I would add these:

• “5 Ways to Juggle Freelancing and Parenting—Without Losing Your Mind”

• “Balancing Family and Freelance Journalism”

• “Dear Newly Self-Employed Editors . . .”

• “Freelancing as a Stay-at-Home Parent: 7 Smart Ways to Be More Productive”

• “How to Win as Both a Parent and a Freelancer”

• Juggling on a High Wire: The Art of Work-Life Balance When You're Self-Employed [book]

• “My Husband and I Are Full-Time Freelancers—and Full-Time Parents