As editors, we tend to comfort ourselves by thinking that we have everything under control, because what is editing? It’s controlling the words. But control is an illusion. Style guides change. Our lives change. Life changes greatly affect the quality of our editing and our lives. What life changes might …
Those who read are an exacting bunch. We grew up with professionally proofread books, back when publishers could still afford to pay someone to make sure no spelling mistake got by, no errant comma, sneaky typo, sloppy grammar or lazy punctuation. We had high expectations of our reading material. Now …
When I began writing this article I knew, like most of you, that editing is an unhealthy occupation. It’s so fraught with hazards it’s a wonder anyone will sell us health or life insurance. We sit long hours, our work is mentally taxing, we stare at monitors, our physical effort …
When I started my current job managing a team of editors, I panicked. I had no idea what a manager did. Seven years on, I’ve learned a few things. Some days I feel like I’m still stumbling along, but I’d like to share some tips I’ve picked up along the …
Forty-six years ago, when I embarked on my editing career, my first assignment was to edit a 500-page novel, which the publisher plunked onto my desk along with a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style and a dictionary. “Here, edit this,” he said. That was my instruction in its …
Good stories, for me, have never been treacly. My father, an RCMP officer, put people in jail; my mother, a halfway house director, put them back into society. My childhood was one of sensational publications and limited adult supervision. By age 11 I’d read Jaws, Helter Skelter and The Eden …
This post is part of a new series of case studies by and for in-house editors. The focus of this series is on the personal experiences and various roles of in-house editors. A post will appear on the Editors’ Weekly every other month. If you’re interested in writing a post for this series, please …
I went freelance at the start of 1993, working from my house in Dublin. I didn’t have a computer till midway through that year — work arrived at first by courier or in the mail, on paper. I had some reference books and, if I was lucky, a publisher’s style …
Many of us started out in other careers and came to editing via circuitous routes. Some of us were teachers; some were engineers; some were writers who drifted into the editing side of the industry. In some cases, we had jobs that required us to fix other people’s work on …
Editors Canada’s Professional Editorial Standards (PES) describe the responsibilities of an editor. The scope of PES is broad; this series explores how the standards apply to a variety of editing contexts. I’ve always found the granularity of PES daunting; I’m more inclined to “find the voice and let it sing.” …