THE EDITORS' WEEKLY

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Kate Johnson

No Perfection Unless You’re a Sunset

March 26, 2019 by Kate Johnson | 7 Comments on No Perfection Unless You’re a Sunset

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 we tend to notice when […]

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: The Torments of Editing

March 19, 2019 by Wilf Popoff | 3 Comments on Wasted Words: The Torments of Editing

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 amounts to repetitive flexing of […]

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John Cords

Reflections of a Managing Editor

March 12, 2019 by John Cords | 10 Comments on Reflections of a Managing Editor

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 way. Personality When I took […]

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Nancy Flight

40 Years: An Editor’s Perspective

March 5, 2019 by Nancy Flight | 3 Comments on 40 Years: An Editor’s Perspective

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 entirety. There were no courses […]

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Frances Peck

Freedom to Read, Willingness to Edit

February 26, 2019 by Frances Peck | 13 Comments on Freedom to Read, Willingness to Edit

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 Express, a memoir of schizophrenia. […]

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Gael Spivak

Client Relationships for the In-house Editor

February 19, 2019 by Gael Spivak | 4 Comments on Client Relationships for the In-house Editor

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 email the Member Services Committee.  […]

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Brendan O’Brien

My Network

February 12, 2019 by Brendan O'Brien | Leave a Comment

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 guide to consult. For many […]

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Anna Williams

Quick Topics: Born or Made

February 5, 2019 by Anna Williams | 23 Comments on Quick Topics: Born or Made

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 a regular basis, and that’s […]

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Tilman Lewis

Professional Editorial Standards: What Does an Editor Do Today?

January 29, 2019 by Tilman Lewis | Leave a Comment

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.” But comparing the 2016 revision […]

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Marianne Grier

Google as the Editor

January 22, 2019 by Marianne Grier | 6 Comments on Google as the Editor

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 and suggesting text they can […]

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