The Week in Review

My, what a long week it's been. My little girl was home sick Monday through Wednesday. I took a sick day Monday, Jason worked at home Tuesday, and I worked at home Wednesday. Even with taking time to take her to the doctor, I still got more done than I would have in the office (I reviewed third pass of a 450-page book and first pass of a 370-page book). That disruption in my routine really stressed me out, though, so it's good to be back in the office and gazing at the prospect of a free weekend with a well child.

Meanwhile, lots has been going on in the publishing careers world. Let's see if we can get up to speed now:

• DOJ Gives the Google Book Settlement the Thumbs Down: In a nutshell, the Department of Justice is urging the New York court to reject the Google Book Settlement and have the parties modify it to comply with antitrust and copyright laws (see a good compilation of news reports on the subject here). This is actually good news. Even though I had put some work into getting my company ready to claim its rights, it was still a daunting task that I don't have time to tackle now. Also, I had reservations about whether the settlement was fair to publishers. So it's all good.
  
• O'Reilly to Distribute Microsoft Press Titles: See the press release here. Microsoft Press, which has long suffered as not much more than a marketing tool for Microsoft, will get a big leg up in the trade and e-book markets. It's unclear what ramifications this will have for the editorial staffs in Redmond and Sebastopol, but it bears watching.
  
• Professional Resume Writers Converge upon Annapolis: The annual National Resume Writers' Association conference is wrapping up today. I decided not to attend this year due to budget issues (and with a sick kid, I might not have been able to go, anyway). But I have been able to follow several people tweeting notes from the conference.
  
• National Punctuation Day Excites the Twittersphere: In celebration of National Punctuation Day, throngs of grammar gurus (and plenty of wannabes) tweeted punctuation song titles (like "Comma Chameleon"), made question-mark-shaped meatloaves, and made the day a trending topic on Twitter. I especially enjoyed this confession of an ellipsis abuser.
  
• Frankfurt Is Coming Up Soon: My husband leaves in just over a week for his 10^th trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair. As usual, he's tacking on a side trip to an exotic locale. This year: Cyprus—his 40^th country to visit. (Next year might be Sicily, and I might actually be invited!) Meanwhile, he's keeping up the annual tradition of torturing me over how many customer account sheets he needs to do and how little time he has left to do them. He always gets them done right under the wire, but the drama is almost too much for me.
  

So, that's the big stuff. Next week I'm looking forward to introducing you to another blogger who has been writing on the subject of careers in publishing—and scored an awesome job as a result. Meanwhile, my resume writing business is picking up now that school is back in session and people are getting serious about their careers again. Have a great weekend!