All about NEEDSer: Your native-English editing service

I'm from New Zealand, alive and well and living in the north of the Netherlands. How I got here from Down Under is a whole other story but believe me, the journey was fun and the arrival even better. I started life in the fast lane of freelancing as an author's editor nearly ten years ago, after spending a lifetime (well, 20 years) working for the biggest STM (scientific, technical & medical) publishers in the world: Elsevier Science, based in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam. Back in 1980 I started off in data entry, typing abstracts into a medical database. Boy was I glad to get the job because a) I couldn't actually type in those days but the kind lady who ran the typing test let me in anyway; and b) I didn't know any Dutch and this was about the only place in Amsterdam to employ native-English speakers (all Elsevier's publications are in English). Lucky old me, from my humble start on the ground floor of a global publishers, I soon worked my way up to the dizzy heights of corporate marketing and as the company's journalist I was responsible for internal PR and, especially, editing the house magazine, Elsevier Science World. Fast forward to now and I'm still grateful for the grounding I gained (howzat for alliteration!) at Elsevier Science as it enabled me to study journalism and develop the editing and language skills I now use daily working from the comfort and convenience of my home. Drop in and see me at work www.needser.nl

Okay, I wake up around 7:00 a.m., smile at the sun (ha-ha, thought you'd like that) and cuddle the dogs, Oliver and Cleo, who sleep in their own armchairs (oh, right, Oliver sleeps on the bed)(sometimes)(always!). Then, in my pyjamas (yes!), on my way to my desk, I detour through the kitchen to grab my first cup of coffee of the day (I usually have one every hour or two). While I'm waiting for the caffeine to kick in I'm starting my pc, and shufling through the admin (timekeeping, invoice prep, list of queries for the author, etc.) related to my current project. Then, when the pc pings that it's ready to go, so am I. For the rest of the day it's go go go, editing on screen, with nary a pause for breakfast, lunch or a mid-afternoon snack, until I stop round about six in the evening but only because the dogs are howling for me to feed & walk them. Which I do, but only after I change out of my pyjamas. So there you have it, not bad for a daily routine. No distractions (besides dogs and birdies; see below), no social stress (see below), only the healthy demand of a regular deadline to give that extra spice to my life. I've never missed a deadline yet. I love 'em! And um... if you want to challenge me with your deadline, come over to www.needser.nl

Am I well-balanced? Well no, and let's admit it, I'd like all the tips I can get on NOT ever becoming well-bal... um... sane. You know the old saying, "You don't need to be a mad hare to work here, but it helps"? Considering every day is a Bad Hare Day for me, plus all the hare-brained tendencies I have that make me such a good professional hare-mit, it would be sheer madness for me NOT to work from home. I sure ain't any good at the alternative. All that twittering twee chit-chat, being social, hanging about the office water cooler is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies. No offence intended, but I had enough of that in my corporate days to last me several lifetimes. Let me, instead, talk to the birdies landing on the feeder outside my home office window. I can handle their sweety-tweety-chirp-chirp and besides, birdies never mind what I say or even how I say it. Seriously now (really?) I don't need to keep a good work-life balance working from home mainly because what I do for work simply doesn't feel like work. It's my life and I love it. Now that does sound insane (so tell me about it, Doctor) but really, I love what I do and it's such an important part of my life that it keeps me in whatever balance I've got. At least my ears are in balance. Well, they were the last time I played the Easter Bunny. Go figure... but really and truly seriously now, I'm always totally in balance when I'm at work, editing a text. Check out how balanced that is at www.needser.nl