November 21st, 2022

Copyedit time

The sweetest plums of publication vary by writer, but for those of us for whom the call is coming from inside the house, as it were, I think one has got to be the copyeditor’s style sheet. Would you like to see the one for These Days Are Numbered, which edges daily closer to be real book and NOT a collection of online ramblings. Or possibly it’s both. LOOK AT THIS GORGEOUS FUNNY THING. I think I said this with my last book, but if it were an option to publish this instead of the full text, I would consider it.

Spelling, Hyphenation, and Abbreviations
A
air conditioner
Alice (younger cat)
Allan Gardens

B
backup (n.)
ballcap
Bleecker St (not Bleeker)
BlueJeans (app)
the Bureau of People We Know, the Bureau

C
CanStage
CareMongering (Facebook group)
catio (cat patio)
Census
convoyers
Covid-19
contract-trace (v.)
co-worker (Dundurn style)

D
Double Unicorn
drugstore (Can Ox)

E
Evan (elder cat)

F
Facebook (not FB)
Fimo
freezie
FreshCo
front line (n.), front-line (adj.)
Frosty (Wendy’s)
Furama Cake and Dessert Garden
FYI (for your information) – not fyi

G
Gaelan
the Great After
grown-up (n., adj.)

H
Halloween (Can Ox)
health care (n.), health-care (adj.)
heat wave (not heatwave)
HMU (not hmu)
hot spot (Can Ox)
Houseparty (app)

I
iMessage
Instant Pot
internet (Dundurn)

J
jeez louise

K
L
lineup (n.; CanOx), line up (v.)
Liquorice Allsorts (brand name), but licorice (Can Ox) for general mention
lockdown (n.), lock down (v.)
Lycra

M
Mark Sampson
Mattermost
meal plan
mini-putt
Mominator

N
O
okay

P
PayPal
People magazine

Q
quaranfree
quaranlove

R
Regis Korchinski Paquet

S
Sampsonblum
sani (sanitizer)
seat belt (Can Ox)
self-defence (Can Ox)
set-up (Can Ox)
social distancing (n.), social-distance (v.)
spray-paint (v.)
St. James Town (SJT)
staff (sing. n.)
stage 2, stage 3
stay-at-home order

T
T-shirt (Dundurn)
takeout (n. & adj.; CanOx)
TBH (not tbh)
The Mandalorian
TL;DR
tone-match (v.), tone-matching (n.)

U
uh-huh
under way V W
Walmart
Wellesley St
Wi-Fi (Dundurn style)

X
Y
Z
Zoom (upper-case when referring to video platform) #