Author's Editor

"He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help" – Abraham Lincoln.  2019. As an alumnus, UP '65, I am ashamed that: Among Asian universities, UP is ranked by QS as #72, and that; among universities in emerging economies, UP is ranked by THE as #87. UP is not going UP; UP is going Down! (QS is Quacquarelli Symonds; see my 13 January 2019 essay, "UP, Stop Behaving Like Tarzan And Let Me Help You!" Author's Editor , blogspot.com . THE is Times Higher Education Emerging Economies University Rankings; see ANN's 16 January 2019 article, "UP Ranks 87th Among Top Universities In Emerging Economies," Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of the Philippines , ovpaa.up.edu.ph .) Yes, in the Philippines, UP is Number One when it comes to Instruction ; and yes, it is Number Wan when it comes to Research and Extension . Personally, I'll grade my alma mater Excellent (1.0) when it comes to Instructio...

As Virtual Assistant (VA), whoever you are, your application letter is the most important link between you and your prospective employer – so it better be good! Especially if you are applying for a high VA position anywhere in the world. You can ask my son Jomar Hilario, who is a guru in this field that he prefers to call Virtual Career (VC) – because you have to make a career out of it – he has mentored a great many would-be VA/VC here and abroad.  The actual VA letter, from unusualworldd.com , part of which you see above and which I have edited in Word 2013 "Track Changes," is a very poor one, intentionally so, because the source, Unusual Worldd, wants to teach you lessons. The application letter is short, as it should be. Yes, my advice is free , as you can see here: I want to help VA/VC applicants simply because I know that the more you give, the more you receive! I am reproducing the letter (about 97% of it). Dear Mr Simpson, I am writing this l...

The above image is my photograph taken 19 July 2016, painterized here for effect. Whenever Tarzan of Edgar Rice Burroughs jungle stories defeats a gorilla, he beats his breast. Here is my alma mater the University of the Philippines, UP, beating his breast on the news by Sofia Tomacruz that "Only UP Makes It To Top 100 Of QS Asian University Rankings For 2019" (25 October 2018, rappler.com ). On this piece of news shared by Jerry R Yapo on Facebook today, Sunday, 13 January 2019, my comment is: Something to be ashamed of, considering that the National University of Singapore is #1 and Seoul National University of South Korea is #10 in Asia and UP is nowhere to be found! Understand. The 2019 Quacquarelli Symonds, QS, list features over 400 universities from 17 countries in Asia and adopts a methodology that consists of 11 indicators: (1)    academic reputation (30%) (2)    employer reputation (20%) (3)    faculty-student ratio (10%) ...

The correct way of saying it is like this:  You are working as a Virtual Assistant. And: You are working on a Virtual Career. Pursuing a Virtual Career . Kung kina-career mo yong pagiging Virtual Assistant, you have a Virtual Career! And I'm encouraging you, which is why I created this dedicated blog, if only last year (last month), my Christmas gift to Filipinos – embracing Filipinas of course. In the image above, you see being advertised by Amazon Books my son Jomar's paperback Virtual Careers at $9.95. That's dirt cheap; 55 X 10 gives you only P 550 a copy. The author is my son, yes; he knows I have very high standards, and so I would not have allowed my name to be put on the cover as Editor if the book is not that good! The point is we are encouraging Filipinos to be more aware of and pursue earnestly their own individual virtual careers. And that is exactly the reason why I created this blog, Author's Editor , 18 January 2018. I have not ...

Which one is The Best Me? You have the exact same problem when you're applying for any Virtual Assistant, VA, job or position! Upwork Philippines is advertising "The Best Virtual Assistants For Hire In The Philippines." As a Filipino, I say "Yes!" Those 9 words have a double meaning – ask me. You, when you're applying as a VA, for any of the following: administrative assistance, business development, customer support, Internet marketing, video editing, Web design & development, writing, whatever, you have to learn to present your best side . You know yourself, of course, but you will be judged by somebody else who does NOT know you, according to your Application Letter & Resumé Text , ALERT. So, your ALERT becomes VIP – Very Important Papers. For your ALERT, you have to do 2 things: One: Write in good English. Two: Enumerate your experiences & expertises to convince the company or fellow that you are the one candi...

I'm talking to you if you are a columnist, lecturer, preacher, speaker, virtual assistant and anyone else who must deal with the written word before going out and trying to conquer the world. Today, writing a letter, article, speech, campaign, or presentation is a journey in the intellectual as well as the digital worlds. And the Author's Editor is your journeyman who will take you across the river, or downstream, or upstream, or all of the above, as may be necessary depending on what he discerns as your objective and its fulfilment. You want to navigate the river yourself? The journeyman knows better. He knows the river like he knows the bamboo raft and the bamboo pole he uses for steering. He is the Enabler. Bruce W Speck writes on "The Professional Writing Teacher As Author's Editor" (11 March 2009, Taylor & Francis Online, tandfonline.com ). The author's editor... is an emerging model of the editor-author relationship that focuses on h...