Years of disappointment, infertility, and miscarriage behind them, John and Suzanne Henkels finally found bliss. A family began when they joyfully adopted Zach from Russia and was completed when Suzanne gave birth to twins, Jacob and Samuel, two years later.

That ecstasy was shattered when Sammy was given just a 50 percent chance of surviving a rare and brutal disease. The months of treatment – chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, and devastating complications – put unimaginable pressure on the family. As Sammy struggled for survival, John and Suzanne were frequently separated from their sons, from their home – and from each other.

With rare candor, John writes in Samuel’s Mission of his doubts, fears, and anger – and his search for lost faith. Marriages have been destroyed by far less than what this couple endured. But he and Suzanne learned the meaning of extravagant love and grace – from their family, from the medical professionals, from the children fighting for life, and most importantly, from Sammy – which ultimately opened the
doorway to a life of joy.

April Michelle Davis proofread this manuscript in the weeks before publication. Proofreading is usually performed on a manuscript that has already been through developmental or copyediting and has already been laid out by a designer into page proofs.

 

Tragedy buried the life story of Royal C. Moore, an early Minnesota business giant, until the relatively recent raising and restoration of the Minnehaha, a 1906 Moore-designed and constructed streetcar boat. For lovers of vintage wooden boats, Royal C. Moore: The Man Who Built the Streetcar Boats rings to the forefront one of the Midwest’s most prolific wooden-boat builders.

For lovers of lakes and boats of all stripes, the volume reveals a deeper layer of understanding of the US heartland’s nautical history. The book provides never before seen photographs, and narratives of people, life, and business on the shores of Lake Minnetonka in the half century between 1879 and 1930. The chronicle of Moore Boat Works’ ambitious owner, the hundreds of boats he imagined, designed, and manufactured, and his drive to push ahead in spite of adversity will cause you to probe your long-held beliefs about the hopes, dreams, and motivations of generations past.

April Michelle Davis wrote the index for this book. In the index, she included names of people and important events that were within the pages of this book. Writing an index is something that a professional indexer needs to do, not a computer, because the computer cannot examine the context to determine what should be included in the index and then write it in such a way to be user friendly.

 

For over thirty years, World War II veteran and author Burt Hall assessed accountability in government and national security. Now, this seasoned, professional analyst delivers a tough account of what went wrong in our politics and system of government over the past two decades and what we can do about it.

The right wing (not to be confused with Conservatism) has hijacked the Republican Party and wreaked havoc on our nation. It exploited basic flaws in our system to gain power and a series of major setbacks and a weakened democracy have followed.

The Right-Wing Threat to Democracy lays out clearly what the basic flaws in our system are and how they can be fixed. The danger is that an ongoing shift of political power to the very wealthy and suppression of voting rights is silencing the voice of the average citizen.

If elected officials do not fix the basic flaws, the American people have alternatives in our democracy and must take matters into their own hands.

April Michelle Davis copyedited this manuscript, preparing it for publication for the author. The manuscript was reviewed at the clause level, checking thematic organization at paragraph and sentence levels and checking for consistencies, errors, and omissions.

When seventeen-year-old pop sensation, Ethan Carter, drives drunk and almost kills a man, his livid mother pulls the plug on all things celebrity. Banished to his granny’s house on the Alabama coastline, Ethan is subjected to an extreme dose of normal.

In Redemption Song, Ethan views normal as a synonym for boring, but things take a turn when he meets Alaina, the spunky Christian from Granny’s church. With her brutal honesty and complete disregard for his rock-star status, Alaina is beautifully different, and for the first time, Ethan is finding it very difficult to get what he wants.

The closer Ethan and Alaina become, the more obstacles seem to come between them. And as Ethan’s punishment draws to a close, he knows that a decision is inevitable. He can return to the life of his dreams, or he can leave it all behind for Alaina. Maybe normal’s not so boring, after all.

 

The Quarterly Journal of Economics is the oldest professional journal of economics in the English language. Edited at Harvard University’s Department of Economics, it covers all aspects of the field.

April Michelle Davis stepped in and copyedited several issues of this magazine while the regular freelance editor was on leave. For these issues, April Michelle took the lead and moved the writing process along smoothly by quickly becoming familiar with the style manual and the house style guide.

After hanging in mid-air for a split-second, our canoe drops hard. Immediate primal fears, heightened by expedition tensions and summer’s heat, grip us. We are descending out of control and into the core of a forty-foot whirlpool. The bow bends as if to be ripped asunder. Did we cheat death on Winnie’s six-foot waves in near freezing waters and survive terrifying games of chicken played by towboat operators only to go down in a peril equal to Dante’s inner circle? Mighty Miss’ edge-of-death experiences mingle with portraits of sandy beaches; a Robinson Crusoe island; magnificent sunrises; close-up encounters with loons making their evening call; slam dancing carp, lips pulsating to pass brethren mosh-pit style; and fishermen and faith-filled river people sharing intimate and uplifting stories. The ecstasy of nature’s beauties and the excitement of survival make Mighty Miss a timeless and riveting Mississippi memoir.

April Michelle Davis was selected to complete the proofread of this manuscript, the last and very important editorial step immediately before publication. Her work is precise and detailed and entailed correcting the lingering mistakes before the book was printed. Every manuscript should be proofread by a professional proofreader such as April Michelle Davis!

Ford is to automobile what Best is to tractors. Making Tracks: C.L. Best and the Caterpillar Tractor Co. is a complete picture of Clarence Leo Best and why he was driven to live up to his name–Best. Read about the little-known history of the name behind the success of the historical California company, the Caterpillar Tractor Co.

Best’s life was varied and intriguing; designing and building tractors, raising cattle, fistfights in the boardroom, lawsuits and hostile takeovers, and mining gold were a few of the experiences that punctuate the chapters of this brilliant life. Ultimately, Best’s improvements to the track-type tractor concept allowed the Caterpillar Tractor Co. to become the world’s road builder and so much more.

This story follows Best through his life, from working for his father through starting and operating his own company to being chairman of the board for the Caterpillar Tractor Co. for twenty-six years. To complete the profile of the man as well as the entrepreneur, the authors interviewed Best’s only son and were granted access to countless family photos and records.

April Michelle Davis worked with the authors while copyediting this manuscript. She corrected grammar and punctuation but also ensured consistency in logic and facts throughout to eliminate any possible confusion the readers may have. April Michelle’s knowledge and skills as a copyeditor are reflected highly on the authors’ credibility.

 

The year is 2017, and a crisis of cata­strophic proportions is in the making. A conflict over oil has brought China and Japan to the brink of war — igniting a global chain reaction; the Saudi Arabian government is over­thrown by a regime using oil as an economic weapon of mass destruction to blackmail the world. The chaos is compounded by terrifying new climate change information, a floundering global economy, and a terminally ill U.S. president. All the while, a small-town pastor tries to bring unity to her community — frightened citizens of Middle America — as gas prices skyrocket, the economy craters, and lifestyles around the globe change almost overnight. The clock is ticking as the two superpowers, China and the United States, decide whether to approach this perfect storm as friends or adversaries.

Mike Conley’s Lethal Trajectories explores a terrifying what if scenario based on extensive research and current geopolitical trends and world events. The conditions are ripe, and time is running out.

April Michelle Davis proofread this manuscript in the weeks before it was sent to the printer. Proofreading provides a last review of egregious errors, such as basic grammar, punctuation, spelling, and inconsistencies, and any other errors that were inserted during the design process. April Michelle’s years of experience as a professional proofreader and as the last set of eyes helped ensure accuracy and consistency of this manuscript.

When it comes to selling or buying a home, what you don’t know can hurt you. With Ivy League educations, business and legal backgrounds, and over 20 combined years’ experience as REALTORS®, authors Hans Wydler and Steve Wydler share their in-depth knowledge of what can go right – and wrong – in your real estate transaction.

By exposing the unspoken secrets of buying and selling a home, Inside the Sell Real Estate levels the playing field between consumers and real estate professionals. Chock full of details, suggestions, and information on what to look for and avoid, this book will help you identify and select a great agent so that you can net a bigger return on the sale of your home and get the best deal on your next purchase.

As the saying goes, knowledge is power, so prepare to arm yourself as Hans and Steve take you “inside the sell”!

April Michelle Davis proofread this book the week before it was sent to the printer. She ensured consistency within the manuscript to easily share the material with others.

In this fun, fresh, fat-positive anthology, fat activist and sex educator Virgie Tovar brings together voices from an often-marginalized community to talk about and celebrate their lives. Hot & Heavy rejects the idea that being thin is best, instead embracing the many fabulous aspects of being fat—building fat-positive spaces, putting together fat-friendly wardrobes, turning society’s rules into personal politics, and creating supportive, inclusive communities. Writers, activists, performers, and poets—including April Flores, Alysia Angel, Charlotte Cooper, Jessica Judd, Emily Anderson, Genne Murphy, and Tigress Osborn—cover everything from fat go-go dancing to queer dating to urban gardening in their essays, exploring their experiences with the word “fat,” pinpointing particular moments that have impacted the way they think and feel about their bodies, and telling the story of how they each became fat revolutionaries.

Ground-breaking and long overdue, Hot & Heavy is a fierce, sassy, thoughtful, authentic, and joyous collection of stories about unapologetically—and unconditionally—loving the body you’re in.

April Michelle Davis copyedited this manuscript to ensure that the essays written by the various writers were all consistent with one another in grammar and style. Copyediting is an important step in building the credibility of the author, and April Michelle’s knowledge and skills ensured consistency throughout the manuscript while allowing the authors of each chapter to share from their perspective.