Writer & Volunteer, Bev Jackson
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41 2016 IN THIS ISSUE FROM THE EDITOR Freelance booty 3 Bulletin Board 4 COVER STORY Click Here to Volunteer 8 Volunteer Appreciation Day 11 BEST PRACTICE How to quote for jobs – Part 1 12 TOOLS OF THE TRADE Your editorial armoury 15 BOOK REVIEW Dissing the pundits & pedants 17 SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK The copyeditor’s typographic oath 18 SIX QUESTIONS Meet the three new EC members 19 OUT OF OFFICE Writer & volunteer, Bev Jackson 22 GUEST BLOG Rich pickings from The Ex-Pat Files 24 Hi Society 26 Cover: SENSE volunteers — past, present and future — photographed by Michael Hartwigsen at the SENSE AGM, March 2016. 1st row (l-r): Martine Croll, Joy Burrough, Gioia Marini, Curtis Barrett and John Hynd. 2nd row: John Linnegar, Ruth de Wijs, Frans Kooymans, Alison Gibbs and Wil van Maarschalkerweerd. 3rd row: Linda Comyns, Kirsten van Hasselt, Kay Dixon and Anne Hodgkinson. 4th row: Sally Hill, Diane Schaap, Raymond Gijsen, Paul Baker and Hans van Bemmelen. 5th row: Iris Maher, Susan Hunt, Jenny Zonneveld, Erin Goedhart-Stallings and Enid Tomkinson FROM THE EDITOR Freelance booty Back in the day when dinosaurs walked and I was a lowly assistant stage manager at Sydney Opera House, one of my backstage cobbers dubbed me Main Chance Werner. Ye gads, I’d been sussed! I’d believed no one could see my burning drive to become an Oscar-winning director and all the while it’d been blazing in flagrante. The nick caught on like wildfire. Soon everyone was calling me MC Werner, and in my callow yoof, I did all I could to live down the mortification of being thought an opportunist. Today, looking back from the lofty heights of experience, I’d be more blasé. What’s so fearsome about that? I’d say, referencing a famous Fraulein about to jump off a bus and burst into song to boost her confidence. Isn’t the ability to spot an opportunity an ideal entrepreneurial trait in someone running a serious business? Which of course I am and presumably everyone else in SENSE is too (see Sally Hill’s new how-to for tips on pricing) (and you can quote me on that). We all appreciate how essential live schmoozing networking is for business, and that it is one of the excellent reasons for going to SENSE events. Not that I need forcing (much). At the AGM (check out our new Bulletin Board for all the hot news), someone said she’d found this year’s event the most amicable in a long while. Judging by the buzz at the borrel and the din (!) at the dinner, everyone agreed. Looking down the huge restaurant table that evening, I thought to myself, I’m glad I volunteered, otherwise I’d have missed out on all this fun (not to mention a Thai rice pudding to die for). Which brings me to my serious bit: Maartje Gorte’s cover story explains Why We Need You (pointy finger icon). Up and at ’em! Volunteering for SENSE is fun and, not least important, a great way of building up your freelance booty aka professional standing. Oh. That reminds me: what’s the link between freelance and booty? You don’t know? Well let me tell you. The origin of freelance is ‘free + lance’ (oh do keep up). ‘Lance’ comes from, um, that weapon wielded by knights on horseback, like Sir Lancelot (no relation). ‘Free’ is not what our services should be but comes from ‘freebooter’, which in turn comes from the Dutch vrijbuit, that is, ‘booty’, meaning someone who pillages – like a pirate. So there you have it. Once we were pirates, living by the might of our lances. Today we’re freelancers, living by the wit of our pens. Or keyboards. All together now: Ahhh … Happy reading! – Ragini Werner, eSense Editor◄ 3 | eSense 41 | 2016 BULLETIN BOARD From the Chair contact the 23 people who said they would like to help. I was delighted to see so many of you at the Annual So if you remember entering ‘Please contact me’ in the General Meeting last month. I think we can look back comments, then please get in touch. on a very successful meeting: all the motions Which brings me nicely round to the theme of proposed, including the changes to the constitution this eSense, Volunteering for SENSE. As you all and rules, were passed with a minimum of discussion. know, an association like ours can only do as much as We now have a full complement of EC members to our volunteers are willing to do. The survey results fulfil our ambitions for our volunteers and for the implied that many of you would like to volunteer, but website in the coming year. are not sure what there is to do. We want to make it One point raised during the meeting was the easier for you to get involved, help out and feel part of results of the post-Jubilee Conference questionnaire. the Society. You don’t necessarily have to come to I’m pleased to say that 60% of attendees completed meetings to make a contribution because we’ve the survey we distributed a few days after the event. opened a Volunteer Job Board on the forum to match Of those who responded, an overwhelming 70% rated jobs, large and small, to volunteers. the conference as ‘Excellent’. Some thought the We really appreciate what SENSE volunteers do character of the venue suited the character of our — whether it’s something big like organizing the organization. The keynote speakers received many Jubilee Conference, or convening a SIG, or helping out compliments. But when it came to rating the food and with the Handbook — and we want you to know we drinks, responses were mixed: some missed a biscuit truly value your contribution. One EC initiative to show with their tea and others lamented the fact that the this was the first Volunteer Appreciation Day in April. liquid refreshments tended to run dry at lunchtime and At the close of this special event, the workshop in the breaks. The final questions were about a future presenter Christy de Back handed out smiley buttons conference, which most people considered should take to everyone to use as we wished. I felt these buttons place, only your thoughts about the time interval were a nice ‘pat on the back’, because SENSE differed. When we asked if you would like to be on the volunteers make me smile. organizing committee, nearly 75% of you said no. As – Jenny Zonneveld◄ the survey was anonymous, it’s not possible for us to At the inaugural Volunteer Appreciation Day in April 2016 (l-r), Serena Lyon, Anne Paris and Sally Hill enjoy a chat while Christy de Back offers smiley buttons to Sylvia van Rosmalen and Jenny Zonneveld. Jenny came along on behalf of the entire EC to pass on thanks to volunteers for helping to keep SENSE active and engaging 4 | eSense 41 | 2016 Spot the difference Attendees at this year’s AGM made history by voting to amend the SENSE Constitution and eliminate the difference between full and associate members. In hindsight, it was a mistake to draw a distinction between native speakers of English, who could be full members, and non-native speakers, who had to be associate members and unlike full members couldn’t vote on matters to do with the future of the Society. Now the difference is gone and all members can have a full say in SENSE. However, we’ve kept the distinction between native and non-native English speaker in our member profiles as this vital statistic could be of interest to potential clients searching the SENSE Freelance Register. If you want to know what else happened at the meeting and don’t want to wait till next year’s AGM Bulletin to find out, we have posted the DRAFT minutes on the website, especially for members. – Wil van Maarschalkerweerd◄ Pilot website — SENSE 2.0 — demonstrated at AGM The pilot of SENSE’s new website was on show at the AGM. This sneak peek, projected behind the EC, shows one of the huge banners that will greet and inform visitors to sense- online. The new site will have many dynamic features, including a section that will make it a lot easier to sign up for upcoming events. It will also be easier to find files and download resources, as we are re-arranging items in the online library in a far more logical order. When will the new website be ready? Although development is forging ahead, it’s still too early to make any definite announcements ... But watch this space! – Linda Comyns◄ 5 | eSense 41 | 2016 Borreling over the budget At the AGM borrel, Frans Kooymans (SENSE Treasurer, left) and John Hynd (whose volunteer positions include programme secretary 2010-2013) might look as if they’re planning to cross swords at dawn (cue: Dueling Banjos) but actually they’re just having a friendly chat about an idea John had at the AGM — to set up a new SIG for interpreters. ‘We have about 17 interpreters amongst the membership so it could be a viable proposition,’ said John, who also wondered if Frans needs to know when a SIG wants to organize an event. Evidently the Southern SIG is thinking of organizing something in Eindhoven. Frans pointed out that all SIGs have an annual budget and he generally leaves it up to the SIG to decide how they want to spend it. ‘Some don’t use their entire amount, others do.