Looking Ahead with The Editors’ Weekly, West Coast Editor and BoldFace

With 2025 on its way, the editors of three Editors Canada blogs have come together in a series of collaborative posts to reflect on our experiences.

Part one appeared in West Coast Editor, the blog for Editors BC, and introduced more about the blogs and their editors. BoldFace, the official blog of Editors Toronto, shared part two, which celebrated blog highlights and discussed volunteer opportunities.

This week, in the final post of our three-part series, we take what we learned in 2024 and look toward the new year.

Laura Bontje (she/her) is a freelance fiction editor and children’s book author. She volunteers as the managing editor for The Editors’ Weekly.

Amanda Goldrick-Jones (she/her) is a freelance academic editor and the current managing editor of West Coast Editor.

Natalia Iwanek (she/they) is a freelance copy and stylistic editor who currently serves as co-editor-in-chief of BoldFace.

Anneline du Preez (she/her) is an experienced editor (and co-author) of textbooks and other types of reading matter, and currently serves as co-editor-in-chief of BoldFace.

What was your most anticipated editing- or writing-related resource of 2024?

Laura Bontje: I pored over the updates to The Chicago Manual of Style when the 18th edition came out. It’ll take time to internalize the changes, so I’m glad they’re all compiled in a handy list! 

But one of my favourite resources ended up being one I hadn’t known about in advance. I had the chance to beta test Tanya Gold’s new course, The DIY Developmental Edit, and it was so beneficial to work through the exercises they created. I came out of it feeling like a better editor (and a more eager writer!). Editing can be a solitary process, and it’s not often that we get the chance to “look over the shoulder” of another editor at work.

Amanda Goldrick-Jones: I snapped up a copy of Erin Brenner’s The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors almost as soon as it hit the shelves (I wrote about that in BoldFace earlier this year). Even though by then, I’d been freelancing for four years, I still found Erin’s book enormously helpful. It doesn’t matter how much you think you know; there’s always something new to learn. 

But a tiny heartbreaker was that I also bought a hard copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition — only for the 18th edition to emerge a few months later! 

Natalia Iwanek: 2024 was a busy year in terms of new editing and writing resources. I attended various Editors Canada webinars and programs, including “Anti-Islamophobia Editing: Using Inclusive Language and Plain Language to Counter Hate Speech” by Dr. Amber Riaz and “Editing Slurs in Dialogue” by Louise Harnby (hosted by Editors Kingston). 

I also had a chance to read The Conscious Style Guide by Karen Yin, The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction by Amy J. Schneider and, of course, the 18th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style.

Anneline du Preez: I’m just trying to get to grips with the resources editors in Canada use. In South Africa, we worked purely on the British language system, and Canadian English uses some different spelling and vocabulary. I have never used The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), so I’m trying to get myself up to speed on that. It’s one of the great benefits of Editors Canada for me — online access to CMOS, Oxford Reference Online and the Canadian Press Stylebook. I’ve also taken note of the books other editors mention in BoldFace‘s What’s on Your Editing Bookshelf? column. My wish list is growing.

What does the blog have in store for readers in 2025?

LB: Well, that’s up to you, readers! Next year, I’d love to see more pitches about accessibility and representation in editing, as well as editorial niches or aspects of editing life that we haven’t covered in The Editors’ Weekly. But whatever the topic, there’s always a new angle to bring forward, so let me know what you’d like to write about!

Another exciting milestone for 2025 will be the further development of l’Hebdomadaire des réviseurs, the French-language “sister site” to The Editors’ Weekly! This new format will allow for independent posts in each language as well as collaborations between the blogs. Stay tuned for more news en français in the coming weeks.

AGJ: I look forward to creating at least two new series this coming year. One will showcase emerging editors, both first-career and those with previous professional backgrounds, who are invited to share highlights and challenges of their editing journeys. Another (inspired by the BoldFace series What’s On Your Editing Bookshelf?) will launch early in 2025 … because it’s fun to “spy” on what other editors and writers are reading!

But as Laura mentioned, gentle readers, what gets published in West Coast Editor is also up to you. If you have ideas about topics you’d like to see in the blog, please let me know.

NI: We have so many interesting articles planned for the new year. (Once again, thank you so much to the Editors Toronto team and all the volunteer copy editors and writers. We could not have done this without you!) I don’t want to give too much away, but some planned posts include lesser-known fiction editing niches, freelancing advice, interviews, and book reviews. We can’t wait to share these with you all. And, as always, pitches are more than welcome. In particular, we are interested in personal narratives, book reviews and posts about language trends, inclusive language, accessibility, plain language, editorial niches, advice and more!

ADP: I find people and their personal stories fascinating, and I’m excited to share some more interesting interviews in BoldFace‘s Editor for Life series. Because I have at times seriously questioned the career I chose, my favourite question is “Was there ever a time in your life when you seriously questioned your career choice?” And then I also plan to bug members to send us pictures of their workspaces and share their favourite work things. 

Wishing you all a safe and happy 2025!

[Editor’s note: The Editors’ Weekly will be taking a short holiday break. We’ll be back with new content on January 9, 2025.]

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Previous post from Natalia Iwanek: Ask an Award Winner: An Interview with Donna L. Dawson

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