Joanne Mason

Every fall, snow geese migrating south stop in Vermont and cover the ground in a snowy white blanket. Now, a new picture book celebrates that real-life awe-inspiring event. n.pr/4jG5109

Someone left a pretty rock on my front step! (What is the painted rock protocol? Do I pass it along to someone else anonymously?)

First single you bought with your own money. No lying! It was "Fly Robin Fly" by the Silver Convention. A budding violinist, I liked the string section. But it wasn't much on lyrics. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC_k...

I worked a Police song into a LinkedIn post this morning. It felt like a moment. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeZN...

I need to make my appointment this week.

That orange catches an editor's eye very time! I saw this copy of The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition (1993), at a used book sale yesterday. @chicagomanual.bsky.social #amediting

What makes you trust a health message or messenger? What makes you distrust a health message or messenger? #PublicHealth #HealthLiteracy

A crossword puzzle clue has stuck this #XTC song in my head this morning. No complaints! www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDNu...

Having trouble understanding medicalese? This resource from the Medical Library Association can help! @medlibassn.bsky.social #HealthLiteracy #PlainLanguage www.mlanet.org/resources/in...

I like this! Introduce yourself with 10 acts you’ve seen live. The Ramones Violent Femmes The Smiths David Byrne Psychedelic Furs A Flock of Seagulls Missing Persons Paul McCartney R.E.M. U2 (pre-Joshua-Tree)

Rest in peace, Dolly Parton. She will always be remembered for her music, of course. But there was also her Imagination Library, which brought books to millions of children and helped them develop a love of reading.

It was a beautiful, if not quite autumnal, day to drop off my primary ballot.

I’m trying to read more at night. Tonight it’s Afterlife by Julia Alvarez. Really enjoying it so far. #books #fiction

It amuses me that I just used the phrase "hold the presses" to pause the release of a digital newsletter. 🙂

Helpful tips here! I'm often checking to see how long produce will keep. My most recent question was about green and yellow summer squash.

What does chocolate have to do with business #writing? www.joannemason.com/post/are-you... #amediting

Verify your age I put a nickel on the record player needle arm when my 45s skipped.

Villages or supportive communities as an option for single older folks. www.npr.org/2026/07/09/n...

Trying to get back to some semblance of normal after breaking my foot last week. Easier said than done, but I’m getting there.

“Failing to engage religious and traditional leaders in meaningful ways was a grave misstep in previous Ebola outbreaks,” researchers write. www.statnews.com/2026/06/12/e...

I listened to this episode this morning. It was excellent!

💉 Where can you find accurate information on vaccines❓ ✅ American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): downloads.aap.org/AAP/PDF/AAP-... ✅ Medical societies: cmss.org/programs-and... ✅ CIDRAP for in-depth evidence review: vaxintegrity.cidrap.umn.edu/evidence-rev...

Finally removed addictive puzzle apps from my phone. And now I’m at a car appointment brainstorming ideas for a plain language blog I’d like to start. 14 so far!

#SpellingBee spell off! Holy cow!

Finally got myself connected to watch the #spellingbee! Hooray! I look forward to this every year!

When I was a college student on Long Island, I heard L-I-R-R or "the train" most of the time.

Quiet afternoon working through the exercises in the EFA's (@efafreelancers.bsky.social) medicolegal editing course. Hoping to expand in this direction soon!

A good copy editor is worth their weight in gold. Mine is the freaking best. I just wrote something that is incredibly well known in my field and got back: "Got a source for this?" I do... but boy is it superb to be held to account every single time. #copyeditorsareprobablygods #katyaespecially

One of the biggest hazards of #freelance life, at least for me, is the temptation to try every path under the sun. Distraction is powerful. When I stay in my lane (editing and proofreading health materials), I tend to feel more grounded.

You might personally choose not to use AI, but you might not have a choice as to whether your team or office uses it. If your organization is using AI to write alt text, always review it to make sure it's accurate and appropriate. AI won't necessarily understand how or why an image is being used.

Just borrowed a bucket of garden tools from my local library. 🙂👩‍🌾🪴

On my after-dinner #stetwalk, I saw a purple truck marked "Central Oil - The Purple People Heaters." I have no idea if purple modified "people" or "heaters," but it was entertaining nonetheless. (It whizzed by too quickly for me to snap a photo.)

Today I joined the National Association of Memoir Writers with thoughts of adding a family history layer to my editorial business. I'm looking forward to learning more. But in the meantime, I'm thinking of this family getting ready for a camping trip around 1934. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory

I have always wondered this! Eventually, I figured out that "troops" meant individual people, but when I was younger, I thought of "troop" like my Girl Scout troop one rainy weekend at Camp Bonnie Brae.

Such an interesting article and video on the research behind this important work. #genealogy news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

I have a wonderful memory of the time my mother called just to tell me she saw an indigo bunting at her bird feeder. I'm looking forward to reading this for a nonfiction book group next month. #birds #birdwatching

I'm not sure how visible this is, but when I'm feeling frustrated, this duck offering coffee never fails to make me smile. ☕🦆😊 www.instagram.com/p/DVWRXTFkcZM/

A Swedish scientist made up a fake skin condition and then uploaded two fake studies about it to a preprint server in early 2024. The fake papers were then cited in peer-reviewed literature. This aligns with my experience #editing content, especially in the past year www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Whenever I do a sudoku puzzle, I get the #Beatles version of “Kansas City” stuck in my head. “It’s just a-123456789.”

A new indie bookstore is opening in my area next weekend! And another opened last fall. Hooray!

Another great reminder to consider your audience!

Today, I saw my first ice cream truck of the season and proudly called it a ding dong cart, in true Western Massachusetts fashion.

This little sign in the #Massachusetts #Berkshires made me smile.

You’ve all heard of biopsy. But what happens after? Biomedical Scientist Yolly takes us inside a lab, where science turns cells into answers. Together for health. #StandWithScience

global.penguinrandomhouse.com/announcement...

People should be able to understand content the first time they read or hear it. No one should need a legal background or a Latin dictionary to understand a website. Users should be able to absorb content and instructions without needing to make sense of stuffy, stilted language.