THE EDITORS' WEEKLY

A striking black and white image of an older man with glasses perched on his nose, side lit and wearing a plaid jacket or housecoat, who is holding what looks like an old book and reading.

Filed under:

Freedom to read, at all

February 28, 2013 by Debra Huron | Leave a Comment

Although larger social issues are on the periphery of what we do as editors and writers, they sometimes grab my attention by speaking to questions of equity and human rights regarding the written word. Here’s how this is resonating with me this week. During the week of February 24 as Canada celebrates Freedom to Read Week, […]

Tagged

Tagged

Freedom to Read Week literacy

A text-only image, which is a definition by Ambrose Bierce, from his acerbic book, The Devil’s Dictonary. The definition reads: “Defame, verb transitive. To lie about another. To tell the truth about another.” In the red and black background, a dictionary excerpt of the word “justice” fades in at bottom.

Filed under:

R. Franklin Carter

Know Your Legal Limits

February 26, 2013 by R. Franklin Carter | 3 Comments on Know Your Legal Limits

Let’s begin by sketching a fictional but plausible scenario. Dan Ascot is a librarian who works at the University of Western Nebraska. One day, in 2009, he posts a few remarks about a publisher on his blog. He says that Knightsbridge Press, a publisher of scholarly books in Massachusetts, produces “over-priced works of dubious scholarship.” […]

Tagged

Tagged

censorship defamation freedom of expression Freedom to Read Week legal

An attractive, long-haired blond woman looks straight at the camera, holding up a magnifying glass in front of her right eye, making that eye appear extremely large within the frame of the magnifying glass.

Filed under:

What’s an editor to do?

February 19, 2013 by Anita Jenkins | 4 Comments on What’s an editor to do?

Virginia Durksen recently stated in her blog post The Inner Editor: Reflections on Editing as Mindful Practice that an editor must “respect the writer’s voice and suggest only those changes that serve the writer first, and then the writer’s reader.” Certainly I agree; it’s a big mistake to indiscriminately apply a standardized style so firmly […]

Tagged

Tagged

copy editing copy editor editing editor editor's role editors editors at work

Head portrait of Irish satirist and author Jonathan Swift, best known as the author of Gulliver’s Travels.

Filed under:

Gettable Grammar: I are confused

February 12, 2013 by Karen Virag | 1 Comment on Gettable Grammar: I are confused

Gettable Grammar is a monthly series of conjectures, opinions and postulates by Karen Virag. I ARE CONFUSED, AREN’T I? Have you ever wondered why we say, “He is, isn’t he?” and “She is, isn’t she?” but we don’t say “I am, amn’t I?” (though you might say this if you lived in certain parts of […]

Tagged

Tagged

editing grammar humour usage

A two-story house is burning, filled with flames that are coming out through the front porch, upstairs windows, and through the roof. Four firemen in gear, with their backs to us, are standing in the foreground, watching the fire.

Filed under:

Wasted Words: My Hit List

February 5, 2013 by Wilf Popoff | 2 Comments on Wasted Words: My Hit List

Wasted Words is a series of musings on language and usage by editor emeritus Wilf Popoff. I have a dream: English users create their equivalent to the Académie Française to mind the language. I’m at the first hearing of this august body presenting a list of words I want banned. The English Academy must acquiesce if […]

Tagged

Tagged

editing redundancies usage

Close up of a section of bookshelf lined with books, spines facing in. The “exposed” pages are facing out and an old letterpress ampersand sits on top of the books, facing the viewer, as if to ask the question, “And….?”

Filed under:

Are Book Editors an Endangered Species?

January 29, 2013 by Nancy Flight | 4 Comments on Are Book Editors an Endangered Species?

In December 2012, the world was supposed to end, the U.S. was expected to fall off the so-called fiscal cliff, and some commentators had already pronounced Canadian publishing dead or nearly so. As we know, the world did not end, and the U.S. has avoided plunging over the fiscal cliff, at least for the time […]

Tagged

Tagged

book editors editing editors publishing

Close-up shot of a woman's hand, holding a pen, resting on an open book, suggesting that she is studying.

Filed under:

Kristina Lundberg

Rising Above the Plateau: Mid-Career PD for Editors

January 22, 2013 by Kristina Lundberg | 4 Comments on Rising Above the Plateau: Mid-Career PD for Editors

Every fall I struggle with the professional development plan I’m required to submit to my employer. My first decade in editing was brimming with formal and informal professional development, and my professional growth was steep. Fourteen years into my career, how can I rise above the PD plateau and continue to grow? Of course, in editing there’s […]

Tagged

Tagged

career editing editor mentorship

An image of the head of an older woman, thoughtfully stroking her chin.

Filed under:

Gettable Grammar: Less is More

January 15, 2013 by Karen Virag | Leave a Comment

Gettable Grammar is a monthly series of conjectures, opinions and postulates by Karen Virag. LESS IS MORE, NOT FEWER. EXCEPT SOMETIMES. The question of when to use fewer and when to use less perplexes many people. Generally speaking, you should use fewer to refer to a smaller number and less to refer to a smaller […]

Tagged

Tagged

editing grammar lexicography usage

A close-up shot in a field of red poppies and poppy pods. A bee balances gingerly on the petal of one of them.

Filed under:

Virginia Durksen

The Inner Editor: Reflections on Editing as Mindful Practice

January 8, 2013 by Virginia Durksen | 1 Comment on The Inner Editor: Reflections on Editing as Mindful Practice

As a young reader, I liked writers who tactfully addressed the “gentle reader.” Perhaps I enjoyed the ironic wink suggesting that writer and reader are both in on creating the story. Indirectly or directly, good writers invite the reader to trust the unfolding tale, just as they find a way to signal their trust […]

Tagged

Tagged

editing gentle edit gentle editing gentle editor Inner Editor mindful editing

Balloon captions in white on a grey background with lots of slang text such as "Now I'm really ticked," and "Huh?" and "I'm stuck," etc.

Filed under:

Victoria Neufeldt

New Words

January 2, 2013 by Victoria Neufeldt | 2 Comments on New Words

“New Words, Old Words, Shy Words, Bold Words” is a four-part series about English words and their origins. The end of a year brings thoughts of old and new words — and not only to us word birds, who throughout the year are tuned into what’s coming in and what’s fading out. It’s generally easier […]

Tagged

Tagged

American Dialect Society editing lexicography usage words