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Wasted Words: Don’t Meddle With Shakespeare

Tuesday November 10, 2015

You might think that, as an editor, I would endorse a plan to rewrite Shakespeare in modern English. After all, as the advocates of this undertaking argue, Shakespeare’s language cannot be understood by contemporary audiences, and our profession is all about understanding. However, this has little to do with editing. If Shakespeare’s writing comes across […]

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KJV Bible modern English Shakespeare Wasted Words Wilf Popoff

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Dwain Richardson

English Editing in Quebec: Has Quebec Caught on to Plain Language?

Tuesday January 19, 2016

“What is plain language?” you may ask. In a nutshell, plain language communicates concepts and ideas clearly, concisely and effectively. This is done by thinking about the projected target audience: the readers. When you write clearly, you avoid using jargon that only select people know. You also avoid verbiage and overly complex ideas. Contrary to […]

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Dwain Richardson English Editing in Quebec plain language

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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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Wasted Words: Channelling Orwell

Tuesday November 1, 2016

“Insincerity,” says George Orwell in his classic commentary of 70 years ago, is the “great enemy of clear language.” Political discourse is “designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable…” For Orwell, insincerity was more a result of lazy writing than a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth: “…if thought corrupts language, language can […]

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corporate editing editor's role government editing political discourse Wasted Words Wilf Popoff

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Review: Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by Gregory Younging

Tuesday May 29, 2018

When I heard an Indigenous style guide was being published this year, I was excited by the opportunity to learn a framework for approaching the works of Indigenous authors. I am a non-Indigenous editor — a settler — and in recent years I have become very aware of my long-standing ignorance regarding the perspectives of […]

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book review editing Elements of Indigenous Style Indigenous authors Indigenous Peoples Indigenous style publishing style guides writing

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Conferences Are for Everyone

Tuesday July 10, 2018

I had a lot of reasons not to attend the Editors Canada 2018 conference, held in Saskatoon on May 25-27. I was struggling with low energy and caregiving duties (spouse). Also, I have been retired — or at least semi-retired — for a decade. But since Saskatoon is so close to my home in Edmonton […]

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Anita Jenkins conferences editing Editors Canada conference networking professional development retired editor socializing

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Virginia Durksen

Interview with Dr. Suzanne M. Steele

Tuesday October 9, 2018

Part 2: Suzanne Steele, War Poet It takes courage to be a poet, although not the kind of courage needed on literal fields of battle. For two years (2008–10), Suzanne Steele was Canada’s “war poet,” the first official Canadian war artist poet to be embedded with a Canadian battlegroup — Task Force 3-09 (Afghanistan) — […]

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artists Canadian Armed Forces poetry Suzanne M. Steele Virginia Durksen war artists war poetry writing

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Christina Vasilevski

Usability Testing From an Editor’s Perspective

Tuesday April 23, 2019

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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Christina Vasilevski design editing in-house editing in-house editors user experience UX websites writing

Internet discussion forum

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Sun Tzu and the Art of Words

Tuesday November 12, 2019

As editors and writers, we are all conscious of the need to consider our target audience. See Understanding My Reading Communities as an example. This requires self-awareness to avoid inflicting our own biases on our readers. If Sun Tzu had been an editor, he might have said, “Know your audience, know yourself. A hundred editing […]

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context editors forums group opinion quantitative research quantitative study self-awareness Tim Green

Reading on a deadline

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Reading on a Deadline

Tuesday May 26, 2020

I still yearn for my Summer of Reading. It was the summer after grade 8 — that awkward age when you are too young for a job, too old for some camps — and I had the now-longed-for luxury of time. I consumed a large number of books — some classics, some popular YA choices. […]

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book club Carla DeSantis deadline fiction non-fiction professional editor reading logs recreational reading