About Me

Is there any grimmer task than writing an About page? Well, yes, obviously there is, but I’m thinking particularly about the world of websites and of marketing oneself. In that world, I contend that concocting an About page is the grim jewel in the already grim crown of the superlatively grim marketing essential that is website construction.

From that, you probably get the idea that I’m not much enjoying writing About Me–or constructing this website for that matter.

And you know what? You’d be right.

In fact, I loathe website building so much…

But I digress. You probably don’t want to hear about my website traumas, but you may care to know a little about me if you’re considering hiring me for any word nerdy purpose.

Let’s start with an illustrative anecdote.

Earlier this year, when my department was downsizing (and by downsizing I mean going down in searing flames due to the monumental incompetence of…but I digress–again), my colleagues and I were encouraged to compete for another job within the university. It wasn’t a job I wanted, and thank God I didn’t get it–a wonderful colleague who really wanted and deserved it took on the role–but the interview was fun and the talk ranged widely. One could almost say it…digressed.

Oh!

I’m starting to think I may now have an idea why I didn’t get it. *Looks thoughtful*

Anyway, the point of this anecdote isn’t the (blessedly) failed interview but the comment one of the interviewers made to another colleague of mine, who subsequently reported it to me.

“I had forgotten,” said the interviewer, who I’d worked with a few years prior for a brief time, “how real Judith is.”

Few observations so wonderful–and, I contend, so true–have been made about me, at least that I’ve heard, so I’m going to cling to that one. It’s pretty much all there is.

I’m real! *Skips and prances on the inside*

And if that matters to you, we’re going to get on great. If it doesn’t matter, well, I’m real, and I don’t plan on changing, so away you go and have a nice life.

Aside from being real,

• I am a certified Copyeditor with a lovely certificate from the Publishing Training Centre in the UK to prove it. (Might even print it out one day.)
• I have a Master’s of Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching (try saying that 3 times fast) from Nottingham University, UK.
• I have a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Theatre Skills from the University of London, UK. (Ohhhh, so long ago that was.)
• I’ve been editing and helping writers with their fiction, memoirs and non-fiction for 10 years. (Fun stuff; so many great imaginations and people they belong to.)
• I’ve been writing since I was a child, and I have a series of novels gradually wending its way to completion. (One day…)
• I was an English Language Instructor at a university for 15 years until my department downsized (and by downsized I mean crashed and burned in searing flames due to the monumental incompetence of…but I digress).
• I also regularly take part in seminars and courses on a range of editing-type topics and disciplines. (Learning new stuff is the best.)
• I love to meet writers where they’re at, help them plot a path to where they want to go, and then help them get there. (Such a buzz.)

Of course, there’s even more to the real me than the items listed above, but to learn about those bits, you’ll have to get to know me. *Cue winsome smile*

If you’d like to chat about how I can help you with your writing, please click the button below or email me at hello@wordservings.com. I’m not at all scary–unless, of course, you’re one of the managers from my now-defunct department, which went down in searing flames due to the monumental incompetence of…

But I–all together boys and girls–DIGRESS!