THE EDITORS' WEEKLY
Official blog of Canada’s national editorial association
We Ask a Book Coach: Part One
In many ways, my role as an editor sometimes seems similar to coaching writers toward a manuscript they can feel proud of. But formally offering book coaching is, of course, distinct from editing. I have teamed up with Yuxuan Francis Liu, my fellow Editors Canada career builder committee member, to ask successful book coaches about […]
Indigenous Editors Circle: Connecting, Collaborating and Celebrating Indigenous Stories
In May 2025, the Indigenous Editors Association (IEA) will welcome 17 Indigenous and 13 non-Indigenous delegates to the first Indigenous Editors Circle since 2017. Foundations of the Indigenous Editors Circle The Circle has a long-standing history. While the first Circle was held in 2014, with subsequent gatherings in 2015 and 2017, its development was preceded […]
A Proactive Approach to Diversifying Your Editing Business
The great thing about being a freelance editor is that you get to decide the scope of your work. This can also feel overwhelming: How do you know what work portfolio will feel right to you? I recently delivered a webinar for Editors Canada where I explored different methods for diversifying your editing business. I […]
The Power of Affective Communities in Editing
At conferences, I sometimes wander into sessions without knowing the speaker or topic. This was the case during the 2025 Calgary Teacher’s Convention. (I wasn’t crashing the convention: I’m an educator as well as an editor.) I eschewed the session on my schedule and, by chance, ended up at a talk by Dr. Samra Zafar. […]
On Editing an Editor: Shannon Scott and Sam Keir (Morgan Klein) in Conversation
Editing an author calls for a blend of sharp-eyed clarity, cheerleading and hand-holding. What if the author is also an editor? As part of a series of blog posts featuring conversations between editor/writers and their editors, The Editors’ Weekly asked two editors to reflect on their experience of working together. Sam Keir (he/him) is a […]
Editing in the Age of AI
It’s March 2025, and in offering to write a piece about AI, I run the risk of becoming outdated as I type. From what I can tell, the response to generative AI’s influence on writing and editing ranges from gratitude for its time-saving measures to annoyance at its errors to outright panic at its potential […]
Read and Discuss: Elements of Indigenous Style, Second Edition
Next month, the academic editing book club will host Warren Cariou, the lead editor of the revised Elements of Indigenous Style, for a 60-minute Q&A. This book club is run by the Academic Editing Special Interest Group, a collaboration of Editors Canada and the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA). I was thrilled to have the opportunity […]
An Editor’s First Academic Conference
In the first week of 2025, historians swarmed Midtown Manhattan for the annual meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA), one of the largest associations of historians in the world. While I hold a master’s in modern European history, I’m a relatively new freelance proofreader and copyeditor. I attended the conference hoping to learn more […]
Plain Language Is Not “Dumbing Down” Writing
“I want a refresher on my writing.” “I want to improve my grammar.” “My company sent me here.” These are the consistently similar answers I get in every writing class I teach to professionals when I ask what brought them to the course. During some recent clear, concise writing sessions I delivered to a large […]
Up the Creek: Extreme Editing Solutions
Sometimes, we are editing “up the creek”: we have taken on too much work, neglected a deadline or otherwise wound up under pressure to produce a large amount of work in a very short time. When you’re way up that creek and your paddle is far behind you, you may have to forge a new […]
Literacy in Canada: What You Need to Know
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tracks important statistics around the world. They assess literacy with a standardized measure called the Survey of Adult Skills, which is designed to be repeated every ten years. As advocates for the reader, editors should know as much about them as possible. The results of its first round were […]