The Open Desk

Margie Beilharz

Freelance editor and writer in science, environment, education, health

Note: I am not taking new clients

Blog

  • Hello 2016

    As I get down to work in the new year, here’s a reminder of my Christmas and New Year break.

  • Save the Winton Wetlands sea-eagles in seven days

    There are a gazillion conservation causes to donate to, but you don’t often get the chance to save two particular wild animals – let’s call them Seymour and Serena. They are a pair of white-bellied sea-eagles that nest at the Winton wetlands in north-east Victoria (a long way from the sea, despite their name). These wetlands are being restored (the biggest…

  • Science on your skin

    One of the young women who works at one of our local cafés has an equation tattooed on the front of her neck. It’s hard to read, a bit complicated – she said it’s the equation for Einstein’s theory of relativity. Personally, I’m not willing to go that far in order to communicate science (much to everyone’s…

  • David Crystal’s ‘Making a Point’ and a Q&A with editor and teacher Stephanie Holt: newsletter

    This morning I sent out the December newsletter for Editors Victoria. It includes Louise Zedda-Sampson’s review of David Crystal’s new book on punctuation, Making a Point, and Paul Bugeja’s report back from Storyology 2015. Also, should editors charge like plumbers or panelbeaters? Dear Ed answers that tricky question. The whole newsletter is here.

  • My Freelance Register posting is up

    Update 2018: We now have a national directory for Australian freelance editors, which you can find at http://iped-editors.org/Find_an_editor. Yay, my posting on the Editors Victoria Freelance Register is up. Here I am.

  • Editing at Hepburn Springs, and a life science editing accreditation

    The November Editors Victoria newsletter is out! Two days of editing in Hepburn Springs: what did those lucky editors learn at Redact? Reports on the three streams: manuscript editing with Nadine Davidoff, supercharging your business with Ilona Way and editing digital content with John Ryan. And the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS)…

  • Review: Junkyard Planet

    My review of Adam Minter’s Junkyard Planet:  travels in the billion-dollar trash trade is out on Science Book a Day today: Do you recycle? Separate out your paper, cans and labelled plastic from your landfill waste? Take your computer waste to a resource recovery centre? Go you! I do too, and every little bit helps,…

  • Australia’s best science writing 2015

    If you’re in Sydney next Tuesday (27 Oct 2015), you could attend the launch of the Best Australian Science Writing 2015 anthology, edited by science journalist Bianca Nogrady. The winner of the $7000 Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing will also be announced. More info and link to registration on the UNSW Science website. [Update – old link removed]

  • Citizen science: Deciphering old specimen notes for the Natural History Museum

    Here’s another citizen science project – especially for those who have a good eye for old-fashioned handwriting. The Natural History Museum in London is being helped by online volunteers who are transcribing old hand-written descriptions of the 780,000+ bird specimens in their collection. Some of the records date back to the 1830s but they were being handwritten…

  • 2015 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science – just announced

    The recipients of the 2015 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science were announced by Ian Chubb, Australia’s Chief Scientist, at a press conference today. Congratulations to: