There are all sorts of books about topics that indexers might find difficult. There are histories and memoirs of atrocities and traumas; medical textbooks describing illness, injuries and surgical techniques; even art books can sometimes offer up very challenging imagery. Indexer Tanya Izzard discusses some ways that indexers can approach this material and support themselves during the indexing process.
Knowing your limits
If you’re offered a project whose subject matter makes you think twice about accepting, it’s always worth thinking a bit about whether you want to take the job. As with books that express political views you might disagree with, it can be better to decline a book that you think will be too distressing to index. You may normally be fine with that type of content, but have just done a whole series of books with similar themes, and need a break from it. Or there may be stuff going on in your life that means you and the book aren’t a good fit just now.
While considering the project, it’s always worth asking for a sample chapter. Titles can be deceptive; I’ve indexed books about sexual violence that barely mention violent acts, but were concerned with theories of how such violence emerges. Reading a sample will help you get a sense of how the difficult content is being dealt with – is there more detail than you think you can handle or is it a more sober, theoretical treatment of the topic? Are there images included that you find too difficult? Think about how a chapter makes you feel, and then think about the cumulative effect of a whole book.
As indexers we can feel a responsibility to index some texts, because they discuss topics or events that are personally important to us. So we might take on a project knowing that it’s going to be challenging. When we’ve said yes to a tough book, there are things we can do to help us through the project.
During the indexing process
Probably the most important thing you can do during a challenging project is to build in breaks. Frequent short breaks away from your desk to move around should be a standard part of your work anyway, but taking longer breaks to do something different – especially getting outside or doing something creative – can really help during a difficult project. Make a list of short, pleasant activities that you can fit into your breaks, and try to do a couple every day. Personally, I like to escape into the garden or into a crossword puzzle.
If you can, it can be helpful to alternate the challenging book with another project. Some indexers like to juggle multiple projects, and this can be a good way of managing your response to more difficult content – the other project itself becomes a way of taking a break.
There can be a temptation to rush or skim very difficult material. This is perhaps the hardest aspect of working on books like this – you need to make sure that you slow down, focus and capture the indexable content fully. Structuring the work into shorter sections can be a way of managing this – if you use the Pomodoro technique for time management, try shifting your Pomodoro length to 15 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes away from your desk.
You may also find that the term selection phase is the most demanding one. Once you have an index to edit, this can give you some critical distance on the text. So difficult projects can get easier as they go along.
If your sense of responsibility has led you to take on the project, it’s helpful to channel that towards your readers – thinking about their needs can help you make progress and give you some emotional distance from the text. But it’s important to treat yourself kindly, too.
Finding support
Indexing is a solitary profession and your main source of support is often yourself. It’s good to have compassion for yourself if you are distressed by the content of a book – it would be worse if you didn’t find this material upsetting to some degree, after all. If you took the job because you think the topic is important, it can be helpful to bear in mind how you’ll feel when you’ve completed it – satisfied that you’ve made your contribution to a useful or important book, perhaps.
Sometimes it can be helpful to immerse yourself in the world of your book in your spare time, reading other related books and diving into films, television and radio or podcasts. But with difficult content you might want to give yourself a bit of a contrast in your leisure time. Similarly, you might want to make sure your next project is on a less challenging topic. And if you never want to index anything like this again, don’t add the book to your online profile.
But remember your fellow indexers are also available as a source of support. Society of Indexers members have the benefit of our online forums and regular Zoom and local group meetings; other indexing societies have similar events, and there are indexing mailing lists that anyone can join.
You can read more about the benefits of SI membership in our blog post.
About Tanya Izzard
Tanya Izzard indexes scholarly and trade books in the humanities, producing standard and embedded indexes for authors and publishers. She has been indexing full-time since 2017 and is an Advanced Professional Member of SI and the Marketing Director on the SI Executive Board.
Image from the Age Without Limits image library, used under Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0 Universal.
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