Simon Cuerden for Knowadays

Speakers: Simon Cuerden

Simon Cuerden: Hi. My name is Simon. I'm originally from the UK. I studied in London quite some time ago. My first degree was in sociology, and my second, media and communications. In about 1998, I left the UK and moved to Canada, where I lived for about 20 years. Work wise, I've done a few things. I've taught English as a second language in Japan, I worked in labor relations in the advertising industry. I also worked in information management, and I've worked in stakeholder relations for an on-site infrastructure project in Vietnam. That was a lot of fun. My passion is traveling. I've been to about 60 countries worldwide, and I'm currently settled in my favourite part of the world: Latin America.

Simon Cuerden: Well, I've always been interested in writing. And throughout my life, friends and colleagues often came to me and asked me to edit their work, which I happily did. And I guess my work was half decent because people kept coming back for more. Anyway, fast forward to February, 2020. That was really a game changer for me because I was asked to content edit a very lengthy corporate report for a Fortune 500 company. The report was very dense, full of technical jargon and the timelines were tight. So, quite frankly, I did doubt myself. I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I plowed on. I completed the report, and fortunately the client was happy with the job that I did. And this got me thinking: I knew my work was half decent, but it also had the potential to be so much better. I wanted to take my understanding to the next level. And this coincided with a very long and boring Covid-related lockdown. So, I wanted to make the best of a challenging situation. I wanted to increase my understanding and also make the best of the situation. So I enrolled in Knowadays Becoming A Proofreader course. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Simon Cuerden: Successfully completing the Knowadays Becoming A Proofreader course not only increased my knowledge, but it boosted my confidence, too. I could finally say goodbye to that nagging imposter syndrome —something that I think many of us have: that little voice at the back of my head saying you can't really do this. Doing the course and passing the course, I knew that I could. And I wanted to pass on that knowledge and enthusiasm to other learners on the course. Added to this, the fact that I love to travel and I really enjoy working remotely, so becoming a tutor was really a natural choice for me.

Simon Cuerden: Well, that's an easy question to answer, because here at Knowadays we're very fortunate to have wonderful learners enrolled in our courses. And I just love meeting those learners for their one-on-one final assignment feedback calls at the end of the course. You know, proofreading and editing can be a lot of fun, but it can also be quite solitary work. That's why it's so important to have the one-on-one feedback call. And I really enjoy it because it's an opportunity for me to tell the learner how well they've done and also to dispel some self-limiting doubts that many learners have at the beginning of their journey.

Simon Cuerden: Perhaps the most crucial advice I'd give to anyone thinking of enrolling in our proofreading or editing course is that you really have to enjoy this type of work and have a natural instinct. Sometimes I hear from learners who say to me when they're perhaps reading a newspaper article or novel, they're often itching to correct grammar or punctuation errors they find in the text. And if you're that type of person, then I think our proofreading or editing course will be well suited to you, I would say, be prepared to absorb a lot of new information and perhaps open to challenging a few cherished beliefs relating to writing, grammar or punctuation. But if you're open to this, I think you will find either our proofreading or editing course a lot of fun.