Comments and E-Mails from Clients and Colleagues Dear Rene, I just wanted to thank you again for all of your hard work on the technical report titled 20% Wind Energy by 2030 for the U.S. Department of Energy. Your careful attention to detail significantly increased the quality and consistency of the report’s content from the Executive Summary through the last appendix. Making that last appendix as good as the Executive Summary was a feat of marathon proportions considering that this was a 300+ page report that had to be edited under a tight production deadline. I especially appreciate how you called attention to any numbers or statements that needed validation, how you verified the spelling and locations of all businesses and programs mentioned, and how you validated all references and URLs so that it will be easy for our readers to pursue additional information on any topic throughout the report. In addition to your careful attention to detail, I appreciate how you evaluated the report as a whole, making many good suggestions on how to improve the report’s presentation and make it more consistent. Your efforts added a professional polish to this report that will make us all proud to have been a part of the project. Thanks again. —Kathleen O'Dell, National Wind Technology Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Rene: You have done remarkable work on editing/rewriting our book. It’s transforming from a rather turgid and pedestrian document into something that will be quite readable and interesting, thanks to you. I think the book is much better than I could ever have imagined . . . but I did not know then how valuable a good editor is and what a great contribution that editor can make. Many thanks, Rene, for your eagle eye in detecting errors, inconsistencies, and poor logic, and your patience in guiding us past the shoals on which the book could have foundered. I admire your work very much. You would be a great asset to any university faculty; you would bring spark to their publications which are usually turgid and dull. —Alban Lynch, retired mining consultant and author The Industrial Minerals and Rocks project is nearing completion after four long years. This project is by far the largest I have been involved with, at 112 chapters, about 150 authors, and around 1,200 pages. Your efforts are greatly appreciated . . . your problem-solving abilities made you a joy to work with and I hope to team with you again in the future. Similar feelings have been said to me by several of the authors, especially Ken Santini and Sara Robinson. Please send me your portfolio so that I may forward it to our chief editor with my strong recommendation to use you on one or more of our book projects. Please feel free to use me as a reference and people may call me if needed. —James M. Barker, Associate Director and Senior Geologist, Industrial Minerals, Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Tech I’ve never seen anybody else who can work such magic with the English language. —James Dunn, vice president, marketing, Policy Studies, Inc. (PSI) Your technical savvy is such that you write like an engineer or a scientist, but one with an advanced English degree. That makes your writing highly accessible to regular people. —Linda Lehrer, board member, Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority (ACWWA) This is truly an amazing editing job. My compliments to your editor. Outstanding job under incredible time pressure. My kudos. —John Landis, professor, University of California at Berkeley I just received some comments from our director about your copy edit. He found your work “terrific,” specifically noting that your rewrite of the preface and introduction improved the work tenfold. —Grace Hill, production coordinator, Resources for the Future (RFF) Press I wasn't kidding when I said you're the best editor I've seen. If I could just get back to doing more editing, I would study your work. —Kathleen O’Dell, communications, National Wind Technology Center I’ve never met another editor that I’d trust with my projects. As usual, your changes are right on target; I’m thrilled with your work. You ROCK, girl! —Christina Thomas, freelance editor Now THIS is the way we should be writing ALL our ads. This is great and completely appropriate to our intended audience. I love the plays on words! —Cary Baird, former director, corporate marketing & communications, CH2M HILL International Thanks for a very nice job on editing the Preface. I knew that you could make it sparkle. —Doug Balcomb, project manager, NREL The story you wrote is awesome! Your intuitive understanding of the appropriate voice for the Web is amazing! —Joanna Underwood, marketing specialist, CH2M HILL I just talked with the client. He was very enthusiastic about what a great job you did on his paper. I agree, it looks like a very thorough job—I could learn something just studying your work on it. —Nancy Wells, communications coordinator, NREL You did a great job of copyediting the dictionary. I wish I could use you on every job. —Erin Sprague, project editor, Libraries Unlimited Recommendation and Commendation Letters I've had the opportunity to work with Rene Howard in her capacity as a freelance editor, and found that she has admirably performed editing functions for one of our courses, The Metaphysical Use of Mind and Energy. A portion of the material we had been using for teaching was out of date and poorly written. Rene competently edited the course, not only bringing it current, but also improving the overall content through her knowledge and experience. I would not hesitate to recommend and endorse her for any effort that she may elect to pursue. —Dr. Paul F. Danielle, Ph.D., D.D., P.C., President, The College of Metaphysical Studies, letter of reference I've been working with Rene as co-leader of the NREL client representative forums since early last fall. I feel that these forums have been quite worthwhile, and I frankly don't know if I could pull this off without Rene. She is a catalyst and provides impetus when I need it. She brings me organization and perspective. She willingly and enthusiastically takes on the mounting tasks (such as developing our Client Rep Handbook) associated with the needs of this group. She's professional and keeps great perspective, often through her wonderful sense of humor. She's incredibly diligent and thorough. Rene's a delight; what a trooper! —Bruce Green, senior communicator, NREL, commendation letter to former NREL supervisor I would like to express my appreciation for one of your communications staff. Rene Howard has been an asset to me in many ways. She is dependable and very thorough in her work. Despite her considerable workload, Rene always gives prompt attention and a quick turnaround time to anything I need. In addition to her professionalism, she is a pleasant person to work with, always ready with a smile or laugh. Please extend my thanks to Rene for being such a quality part of your team. —Leslie Eudy, staff engineer, NREL, commendation letter to former NREL supervisor It was my great pleasure to work for Rene Howard between 1993 and 1997 as a contractor for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Under her direction, I completed several editorial projects for Department of Energy and NREL biofuels and biomass program clients. During the time that I worked at the lab as a "floater" and until being assigned a research project of my own, I always gravitated toward Rene among the many NREL managers who had editing projects to offer. Her outstanding professionalism, skill, sense of diplomacy, ethics, humor, and sincerity were and are infectious. I know Rene to be an editing purist and a person dedicated to making a piece of work shine without sacrificing accuracy or expropriating an author's sensibilities. She's at the top of her game. —Rod Franklin, freelance technical writer/editor, letter of reference Professional References James Dunn Vice president, marketing, Policy Studies, Inc. (PSI) 303-285-7751 jdunn@policy-studies.com Christina Thomas Freelance copy editor 303-443-0378 cet_2420@yahoo.com Susan Moon Lead, Solar Decathlon 2005 Writing Team, National Renewable Energy Laboratory 303-384-6631 susan_moon@nrel.gov Erik Nelsen Human Resources, National Renewable Energy Laboratory 303-384-7482 erik_nelsen@nrel.gov Kathleen O’Dell Communications, National Wind Technology Center 303-384-6957 kathleen_odell@nrel.gov Linda Lehrer Board Member, ACWWA 303-680-1553 mllehrer@msn.com