Staying Connected through StetPets

Who doesn’t enjoy an adorable animal photo every now and then? For many editors, it’s fun to get a glimpse into the everyday lives of colleagues we interact with online but might not get to see in person — especially when that glimpse includes a cat on a keyboard or a dog eager for a walk.

StetPet began in the summer of 2017. I was dog-sitting a colleague’s poodle, Marais, who kept eyeing an oversized pencil on the bookshelf. Marais was sitting there in this regal pose, so I put the pencil down on the floor, and then she put her paw over the pencil and I snapped a picture. 

I had recently started volunteering as the Northwest Editors Guild’s social media coordinator to help promote that year’s Red Pencil Conference, so I posted the photo to the Guild accounts with the following caption: 

“Editorial assistant for hire. Accepts payment in kibble. Good at sniffing out zombie grammar rules. Is your #amediting assistant this cute?” 

The responses to that first post inspired me to start a regular feature. The Guild has shared a StetPet every Wednesday since then to spotlight how animal editorial assistants “help” with work. Over the years, we’ve featured close to 400 StetPets! 

(A bonus piece of Guild trivia: the oversized pencil in that first photo later evolved into our mascot, Giant Pencil!)

Naming a new movement

The pet photos got a great response from editors who weren’t Guild members, so I asked Marais’ owner and the Guild’s administrator for help coming up with an editing-specific hashtag. We explored a few options, but none were quite right. 

I started rhyming terms used in editing with animal-related words and eventually came up with “Stet” and “Pet” — instantly, I knew we had found it. The hashtag was catchy and easy for an editor to remember, and the StetPet posts were a midweek “stet” allowing us to ignore the usual news and events.

Contrary to what some editors assume, the #StetPet hashtag started a full year and a half before Tanya Gold’s #StetWalk initiative. They’re different but complementary ways to bring joy and connection to the editing community!

What is a StetPet?

Early on, StetPets were restricted to real, living pets, but that changed almost immediately. 

There have been all types of living and non-living StetPets over the years. Other than the usual cats and dogs, StetPets have included less common pets like snakes, fish and a blue lobster; wild animals such as squirrels, snails and a coyote; non-living editorial assistants like rubber duckies, dinosaur figurines and a stuffed animal; and a handful of StetPlants, including a small Meyer lemon tree named Fred. 

An editor or their assistants can be featured again after three or four months. We check in with some longtime StetPets a few times each year, including Iva Cheung’s charming guinea pigs. We have also done memorial posts for StetPet friends who have “crossed the rainbow bridge.” 

Even if you don’t have a pet of your own, you can still submit a “temporary assistant” belonging to your friends or family. It’s all about sharing the joy of pets with the editing community.

Connecting through StetPets

StetPet posts have led to some wonderful connections. I make sure that I’m speaking as the Guild on its social media, so when I meet someone for the first time, there’s a lot of “Oh, you’re the StetPet person!” 

It’s also been a great way to raise awareness of the Northwest Editors Guild. The Guild used to restrict most of its activities to the greater Seattle and Portland (Oregon) areas, but the majority of the events have now moved online and are open to all editors. StetPet has introduced our friendly little organization to editors from all over and expanded our connections to fellow editing organizations like Editors Canada.

It has been fun to see how StetPet has taken on a life of its own in the community. Even though the “official” StetPets live on the Guild’s social media accounts, I always enjoy seeing StetPet threads elsewhere. I really liked what the LGBTQ+ Editors Association did recently with their #PunctuationPets to celebrate Pride month (and I greatly appreciated that they asked my permission and credited the idea to StetPet). 

I don’t have any pets of my own, so on a purely selfish level, it’s also fun to enjoy other people’s pets without any of the work! Plus, some of the descriptions that editors submit with their photos are absolutely hilarious!

Submit your own StetPet

There are several ways to submit your StetPet, but a good old-fashioned email to social@edsguild.org is usually best. You can also DM the Guild’s social media accounts. The full details are on the StetPet page of the Northwest Editors Guild’s website.

I still encourage people to use the #StetPet hashtag on social media, but there’s a chance I might not see it, so email or DM is best for submissions.

To submit your animal (or non-animal) friend, please include the following info:

• one to four photos
• each editorial assistant’s name 
• a brief sentence (up to 175 characters total) describing how they “help” you with your editing work
• your name and where you live
• links to your social media profiles, if you’d like to be tagged

You don’t have to be a Guild member to be featured — StetPet is open to any editor, anywhere. Have fun with it!

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