What skills and experience can I offer you?

I am a native British English speaker. Before I discovered the publishing world, I was a teacher, working with children and young people from ages 5 to 16. I worked in Inner London, Spain and then back home in Scotland.

My specialisms included teaching children and young people with a variety of special needs such as autism, ADHD and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

A long time ago, when my children were very young, I tried my hand at selling DK books at Book Parties. (Dorling Kindersley in those days.)

This was a lovely adventure but I ended up buying more books than I sold, so I clearly wasn’t the greatest at sales!

Now I’m delighted to be involved with words and reading in a completely different way.

What kind of training does a proofreader need?

Since leaving teaching I have been building my editing skills and taking CPD through a combination of the well respected routes of the CIEP and the PTC.

As a CIEP member (entry level) I comply with the Institute’s Professional Practice Code as an editorial professional.

My training includes:

  • Proofreading: Introduction, CIEP (2024)

  • Proofreading: Headway, CIEP (2024)

  • Proofreading: Progress, CIEP (2025)

  • Copyediting: Introduction, CIEP (2024)

  • CIEP Conference (2024)

  • Louise Harnby Style Sheets for Fiction Editing (2024)

  • Publishing Training Centre, E-Learning bite-sized courses in : Publishing, Copy-Editing, Editing Fiction, Proofreading PDFs, An Introduction to Proofreading.

  • Publishing Training Centre, Essential Grammar (2025)

  • Publishing Training Centre, Essential Copy-Editing (I am currently taking this course)

What does a proofreader do apart from proofreading?

When I’m not busy honing my editing skills, I can be found on the beach, walking my grand-dog. She is my extra special editorial assistant.

Since leaving teaching I have had the energy and head space to devote more time to reading, so I often bring a book everywhere I go to help me get through my TBR pile.

I became a member of my local writers’ club last year and have been relishing our weekly workshops and the entering of competitions, which are judged by published authors.

It is quite a scary feeling waiting for the feedback to be given! This has certainly helped me understand the importance of giving gentle but honest feedback to an author.

I attend monthly meetings and work-togethers of the CIEP Glasgow group of editors. This is a fantastic way to seek advice from colleagues and share with like minded editors.