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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.

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What’s an editor to do?

Tuesday February 19, 2013

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 […]

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

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….?”

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Are Book Editors an Endangered Species?

Tuesday January 29, 2013

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 […]

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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.

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Kristina Lundberg

Rising Above the Plateau: Mid-Career PD for Editors

Tuesday January 22, 2013

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 […]

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career development editing editor mentorship PD strategies

An array of typeface letters, in brown and grey tones.

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WASTED WORDS: The editor as analyst

Saturday November 24, 2012

Wasted Words is a series of musings on language and usage by editor emeritus Wilf Popoff. I find it hard to edit without playing amateur psychologist. Why did the writer do this? Carelessness? Ignorance? Of course it can be either. Compared to editors writers are not as alert, which is why they need us. But […]

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editing tautaulogies tautology usage verbosity

Illustration of a long-haired person sitting on a stack of oversized books, smiling as they look into an open book displaying an image of Saturn.

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Holly Vestad Yuxuan Francis Liu

We Ask a Book Coach: Part 3

Thursday July 3, 2025

In part one, Holly opened this series by exploring how book coaching differs from editing (from the perspective of an editor curious about expanding their offerings). In part two, I introduced the conversation from a writer’s standpoint. In this final part of the book coaching series, we have asked the book coaches to offer their […]

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Anne Bokma coaching Dinah Laprairie Holly Vestad Suzy Vadori Tanya Gold Yuxuan Francis Liu

Illustration of a magnifying glass over an open book (pandavector © 123RF.com)

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Holly Vestad Yuxuan Francis Liu

We Ask a Book Coach: Part 2

Thursday May 29, 2025

I came to book coaching from a writer’s perspective. In writing my manuscript, I kept wondering whether I should wait until the last page to reach out to an editor or contact one earlier. Naturally, I reshuffled chapters, debating with myself about the narrative flow and the logic of each section. I can imagine that […]

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Anne Bokma coaching Dinah Laprairie Holly Vestad Suzy Vadori Tanya Gold Yuxuan Francis Liu

A smiling, tan-skinned person with long, straight hair passing a book to a smiling brown-skinned person with short curly hair.

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Holly Vestad Yuxuan Francis Liu

We Ask a Book Coach: Part 1

Thursday April 24, 2025

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 […]

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Anne Bokma coaching Dinah Laprairie Holly Vestad Suzy Vadori Tanya Gold Yuxuan Francis Liu

A smiling, tan-skinned person with long, straight hair passing a book to a smiling brown-skinned person with short curly hair.

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Read and Discuss: Elements of Indigenous Style, Second Edition

Thursday March 13, 2025

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 […]

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academic editing book club inclusion Indigenous Tara Penner