Free copy editing learning resources

 I am a veterinary doctor by profession. But I am a poor practitioner. After marriage, family, kid, and deteriorating health compelled me onto a career break. I waited for everything to stabilize, which never happened. 

But the urge to do something productive went on to nag my mind. So I zeroed in on copy editing and chose medical editing as my niche, as I thought it would align with my knowledge of medical terms and love for language.

My husband is a professor at the Indian Institute of Science, and I started by editing his research articles. I was happy doing this because it increased my knowledge base and put to use the knowledge I gained through a professional degree, which I hardly fought to achieve.

When I dived into this profession, there were very few people in the industry. So, I thought of giving it a try and took a professional course in copy editing. It was only a four-day-long course. I wrote many tests, but couldn't qualify.

Many companies require experience, but to get experience, we should first get a job, which I was not getting. Then came AI and dried up the vacancies. What we learned over many years can be done with AI within seconds now.

Then I shifted to gardening for three years. Even though I learned composting and planting trees, it was also not successful. Learned carnatic music, which gave me some inner peace.

Days and years flew by....The kid grew up and flew away. My health is deteriorating. Peers succeeded and held high positions, but I am still fighting. I want to create an indelible mark of my own in this world before I perish. So now I am onto blogging, which I think I can do at my convenience.

I have an evil eye, an evil tongue, and butter fingers. I am considered good for nothing. But I have a generous heart to help others who are also struggling like me. So I am sharing what I gained while learning editing with aspiring editors who turned to me for help.

Free online resources to learn,

• Academic editing course by Cactus,
• Typogrammar to learn grammar,
• Bacon editing,
• Dragonfly editorial resources,
• Wordvice editing videos,
• Elsevier resources

A few companies to apply to for copy editing jobs,

• Enago, TNQ, Cactus, Aptara, MPS

To learn macros, which are inevitable tools for editing, go to the below website whose owner is a gem who is always willing to help you with everything regarding macros.

https://www.wordmacrotools.com/

A paid platform to learn,

• The art of copy editing by Dr. Venkat.