Since COVID-19 came to B.C., I’ve gone through an involuntary life edit. Things have proceeded like any full edit (though let’s skip the proofread for now, shall we?). The first changes were sweeping, dramatic and structural as we paused daycare, moved to working mostly from home and navigating meetings around …
My two-and-a-half-year-old daughter has been asking for help since the day she was born. She first expressed herself, as babies do, with simple cries that left much to interpretation. Her expressions progressed from “Help!” to “Mama, please could you help me with ___.” While she clearly values doing certain things …
A recent move left my husband and me needing new furniture. Armed with an Ikea gift card, we chose some pieces online. Six flat-packs of furniture arrived a few weeks later, and we got cracking on assembly. As we pieced the furniture together slat by slat, dowel by dowel, I …
A recent family adventure took me to Phuket’s Big Buddha. As the name suggests, this marvel is a giant Buddha stretching 45 metres into the sky, overlooking the Andaman Sea. One of the top tourist sites on the island, the Buddha sits peacefully on his mountaintop, his white Burmese jade marble …
The new “essentialism” is having a moment. While many of us have been trying to cram in more — to fill every unfilled moment so that we’re more productive — some are starting to scale things back. To amble through life more slowly, focus on what’s important, take time to …
If you’re a Gmail user, you may have adopted its new Smart Compose feature. This perplexing time-saver has made me question the future of communications since it appeared in my inbox. Smart Compose uses machine learning to help users write faster, clearer emails by anticipating what they’re trying to say …
Earlier this year, we had a bed bug scare. I woke up the morning of our first international flight with baby to a smattering of red bumps on my leg. The following afternoon, as the edgy haze of jet lag settled in, I noticed how itchy my leg had grown. …
There are many ways to get things done. Given the nature of our work, productivity is crucial for editors; many of us grapple with multiple projects in fluid, distraction-filled environments. The passage of time and how to manage it has preoccupied me since the arrival of my daughter, as I’ve …
As editors, we rely more than most on our communication skills. Whether we’re conversing with clients, sharing knowledge within the editing community or sculpting a client’s words to help them shine their brightest, our communication skills impact the success of our work and relationships. Nearly all the time, we use …
This past August, the much-anticipated arrival of my Chicago Manual of Style v. 17 was overshadowed by the arrival of my first child. My due-in-September baby decided she was more Leo than Virgo, and made her appearance in the world a month early. Her little body wasn’t quite prepared for …