Tricky Edits Column for March 2025

Tricky Edits

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

More Than Tricky Edits

Ancient Ideas Learned from My Evacuation

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Vade mecum (vadee mec-um) translates from the Latin to mean a handbook for constant reference. Romans carried with them when they traveled. I have one, but I thought of mine as no more than a practical idea.

Mine is a recycled daily calendar, a leatherette black book of passwords, telephone numbers for tech support services, a list of writers’ needs, a few contacts, and even travel tips which is probably what the original vade mecum was all about. Traveling was tough back then, but I never thought of it as a lifesaver much less a tip for my fellow writers until I suffered (yes, suffered is the right word!) a mandatory evacuation in the massive Los Angeles fires.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take it with me when fires were filling an area the size of Manhattan with ashes because I had been associating it with pleasurable experiences.

It would have been super helpful if I had. So this is not my usual “Tricky Edit” column for Dawn. It’s my take-it-everywhere savior tip for earthquakes, train wrecks, runaway fires and anything else the universe digs up to surprise us with. So, I’m recommending my writing friends make one—and use it! Anyone might at some moment find a book like this—black or any other color, more than a convenience. It’s the tech world’s savior for we writing spiders whether they travel or not. 

PS: You may be glad to know my vade mecum survived along with our home. Is this an example of finding a silver lining in about any noxious cloud that comes our way? 

MORE ABOUT CAROLYN

Once a month Carolyn Howard-Johnson shares something writer-related she hopes might save some author from embarrassment (or make the task of writing more fun or creative.) The third edition of The Frugal Editor from Modern History Press includes a chapter on some of the words most misused by the very people whose business it is to know them. It is the second multi award-winning book in her multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers. The Frugal Editor has been fully updated including a chapter on how backmatter can be extended to help readers and nudge book sales.

Carolyn blogs sporadically on editing at The Frugal Editor and at her SharingwithWriters blog on other aspects of the publishing world. She also tweets writers' resources and tips here.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program where has found a little humor can decidedly make a lot of learning easier on one’s disposition. 

The books in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers have won multiple awards. That series includes both the third editions of The Frugal Book Promoter and my The Frugal Editor. Published by Modern History Press, they have won awards from USA Book News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, Dan Poynter’s Global Ebook Award, the marketing award from Next Generation Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award. How To Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically is still in its first (very frugal!) edition but please wait for the second edition from Modern History Press. 

Howard-Johnson is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award, and her community’s Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena Weekly’s list of “Fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen” and was given her community’s Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts.