No rest for the wicked

I spent all of last week working with my agency client to complete the first draft of the medication adherence report. It was mentally exhausting, so I forced myself to take a break and come home for lunch every day (their office is about a mile away from my house). On Wednesday, I was looking forward to a nice brainless lunch . . .

. . . but I had barely gotten through the front door when I heard my husband calling from the computer room, asking me to edit an article he was supposed to submit to our neighborhood paper. So I ate my lunch while perusing his copy, and then dashed back to my client's to complete my day's work.

Do you think I should charge my hubby for my editorial services?

Interior decoration FAIL

My agency client shares space in a three-story office building with a bank, a restaurant and several other businesses. The lobby of this building recently underwent some remodeling.

Now, I understand the concept of "eclectic decorating"--but I'm not so sure whoever is responsible for this space does. Behold:

Distressed, antique-looking console tables (there are two--they flank the front doors). Modern light fixtures. Futuristic occasional table with yellow, hard plastic armchairs. This vestibule just screams for one of those "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" interventions.

Tag team

I am usually capable of translating fairly technical concepts into language a non-technical audience can understand. I've written training manuals for sophisticated software programs, and guides for navigating tedious web sites. But I'm not so great at technical writing when you throw math of any sort into the mix. This shortcoming has recently resulted in my first experience with co-writing.

The results of the medication adherence study for which I created a PowerPoint presentation are now being expanded into a full report. I am writing the bulk of the report, but there is a section dealing with statistical analysis that is completely beyond me. I understand the concepts of it well enough, but when I try to write about it, it just sounds wrong. In fact, that section sounds so different from the rest of the report that one editor commented on the change in tone.

So my client got me some help. The technical writer really knows her stuff, but we are struggling to find a way to work together. She isn't familiar with the topic, so there is a learning curve to overcome. We're both used to working alone, and there's a little bit of discomfort as we learn about each other's methods. It just feels . . . clunky. I know we'll figure it out, but right now we just seem to keep getting in each other's way.

Has anybody else had this experience when sharing some sort of project with another person? How did you overcome the bumps?

A nighttime visitor

The other night, a strangled cry from my husband caused me to look up from the book I was reading. He was standing on our front porch, with a surprised look on his face. "Come here," he said, "and bring the camera."

Assuming he had been surprised by a large spider, and fearing that said spider might try to perpetrate a sneak attack if I went through the front door, I approached the front porch by way of the back door.

As you can see from the picture below, it was not an arachnid that had startled my hubby. Drying its newly-hatched wings on our front porch was a luna moth. You can't tell from the picture, but the wingspan is around four inches.


Isn't he beautiful? I say "he" because a bit of internet research informed me that the male luna moth has bushier antennae.

Browse this

My new web site is up and running, but there seem to be inconsistencies in how it appears from browser to browser. On Firefox, for example, there's a black line on the bottom of the Contact page, but the rest of the site looks fine. On Internet Explorer, the issues are a little more noticeable. I've heard it looks fine on IE version 7.0, but it is pretty messed up on 6.0.

So that I can best troubleshoot these issues, can you swing by www.writtenexpressionsllc.com and tell me what you see? You can either comment here, or use the form on the Contact page of the web site to send me an email. Either way, if you can tell me what browser you're using and what version you're running, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for your help!!