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Wasted Words: Quarrelling With Pronouns

Tuesday April 12, 2016

Around the time the Great Flood started to recede I was taught to write, “Everyone must remove his shoes.” Funny how boys aren’t bothered by such preferential usage of male gender pronouns. Back then feminism was a feature of the French Revolution and the current usage of politically correct had yet to surface. Mostly the […]

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gender equality gender-neutral pronouns language change pronouns Wasted Words Wilf Popoff

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A Whole Nother Thing

Tuesday May 17, 2016

As editors, we pay attention to the written form of our language. Its relation to the spoken form is a whole other thing. The spelling is odd, we know. But even our hyphenation doesn’t really break according to pronunciation. Consider the word breaking. Where do you hyphenate it? Break-ing. But where does the syllable break […]

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false splitting James Harbeck language change Linguistics Frankly pronunciation rebracketing

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Know Your Subject, Watch That Continuity

Tuesday August 9, 2016

Blam! Blam! Black Sombrero fired his Colt .45 at the shadow in the barn, then spun and snapped three shots at the posse approaching across the coral. Zing! A shot from behind creased his shoulder, and he wheeled back, fanning four quick shots at the figure in the gaping doorway. Snick. Damn, he was empty! […]

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book editors continuity editor's role fiction Paul Cipywnyk

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Virginia Durksen

The Inner Editor: Introvert, Know Thyself

Tuesday November 8, 2016

Just after parlour games went out of fashion, but before Facebook, a self-employed editor might have used her idle hours for professional developments and introspections of various sorts. In particular, one such editor might have noticed that her clients had entire Human Resources departments dedicated to circulating questionnaires to help people realize who they were […]

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editor's personality Inner Editor introverts Virginia Durksen

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Where the Ink Meets the Road — Insights From Working In a Bookstore

Tuesday November 15, 2016

I’ve recently picked up a few shifts a week at a bookstore, receiving and stocking while I think about where I want to go with my career. As a longtime editor, it’s giving me a different view of the book world. The logistics alone are impressive. Early every morning we arrive to new skids of […]

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books bookstore customer relations distribution marketing Paul Cipywnyk product placement

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Calling Them What They Want

Tuesday December 13, 2016

We’re all professionally attentive to detail, so I’m sure we all appreciate that, having earned a PhD, I am technically Dr. Harbeck, and it could be rude to call me Mr. Harbeck. My wife, having a master’s, is Ms. Arro — not Miss Arro, because she’s married, and not Mrs. Arro, let alone Mrs. Harbeck. […]

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gender-neutral pronouns James Harbeck Linguistics Frankly political correctness pronouns

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Marion Soubliere

Winning Contracts With the Government of Canada

Tuesday February 14, 2017

The federal government spends between $15 billion and $20 billion annually on goods and services, including editing and writing. Communication skills are in high demand. The government’s massive web renewal project faces much work ahead in streamlining 1,500 websites into one overarching website, Canada.ca. Small businesses across Canada, including solopreneurs, can contract directly to this […]

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business of editing federal contracts freelance editors government editing Government of Canada Marion Soubliere solopreneur web content web editing websites

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Basic Computer Terms for Writers and Editors

Tuesday March 21, 2017

Writers and editors ask lots of questions about computers and software but sometimes confuse basic terminology. If you have an issue with a computer or software, it helps if you can frame your questions accurately and provide enough information so that others can help. So let’s do a quick review of some basics. Hardware: All […]

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computer terminology computers hardware Paul Cipywnyk software

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Tracey Anderson

Check Mates: Create a Checklist as an Editing Tool

Tuesday May 2, 2017

I admit it: I’m a (sometimes obsessive) list maker. I make them for all kinds of things: to-do lists, grocery lists, vacation packing lists; my list of lists goes on and on. It’s no surprise, then, that I often use an editing checklist. For me, a checklist is a useful tool for staying organized and […]

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editing checklist editing tools editorial workflow Tracey Anderson

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Confessions of a Conference Buddy (Coordinator)

Tuesday May 9, 2017

I remember when I signed up for my first Editors Canada conference back in 2014. At the time, I’d never held the job title of “editor,” but after years of working in jobs where I’d managed to feed my need to wrangle with words, I’d come to realize it was the role I’d been living […]

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Conference 2017 Conference Buddies Editors Canada Ottawa-Gatineau Sue Archer