Tag: writing

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Sue Archer

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

May 29, 2018 by Sue Archer | 3 Comments on Review: Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by Gregory Younging

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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Frances Peck

A Little Strategy, a Lot of Satisfaction

May 22, 2018 by Frances Peck | 8 Comments on A Little Strategy, a Lot of Satisfaction

Now that I am officially middle-aged, I can say that the most pressing urge is not the need to buy a convertible or meditate under the moon or urinate (thankfully). It is the desire to Pass Along Advice. Here is the top tip I wish I’d stumbled across when I was a novice editor/writer: Income […]

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Suzanne Purkis

Interview with Cherie Dimaline

May 16, 2017 by Suzanne Purkis | 3 Comments on Interview with Cherie Dimaline

On Saturday, June 10, Métis writer and editor Cherie Dimaline will kick off the 2017 Editors Canada conference with a keynote address. Conference co-chair Suzanne Purkis interviewed Cherie about writing, editing and some of the challenges facing Indigenous writers in Canada. 1. Does your experience as an editor influence your approach to writing? If so, how? […]

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Paul Cipywnyk

Zoom, Zoom: Rev Up Your Editing

June 21, 2016 by Paul Cipywnyk | 5 Comments on Zoom, Zoom: Rev Up Your Editing

How quickly can you edit and still do a good job? In another life I was an editor for a financial and business news service, and I was amazed at how quickly reporters and editors could churn out thousands of words, yet maintain high standards. I believe you can learn to write and edit rapidly; […]

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Rosemary Shipton

Should Editors Be Able to Write?

April 28, 2015 by Rosemary Shipton | 15 Comments on Should Editors Be Able to Write?

We editors talk at length about different kinds of editing and who does what, and we generally assume that we’re working on a text written by someone else. Together with the author, we massage the content, the structure and the presentation into the best possible shape for its intended readers. But should we also be […]

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Susan Glickman

In My Opinion

March 17, 2015 by Susan Glickman | 4 Comments on In My Opinion

There are a heck of a lot of opinions out there. Some days they come at you as thick as blackflies over Lac Ouareau on a July afternoon. Small, insistent opinions: some winging singly and some blackening the sky in noisy hordes. Some are meaningful and some mean well and some are just mean, but […]

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: A Compulsion to Exaggerate

February 24, 2015 by Wilf Popoff | Leave a Comment

Frank McKenna, a San Diego photographer, complains that all photos displayed on the web are described as stunning. “What’s going on here?” he asks. “When did every picture become stunning?” McKenna sees this as word inflation. I agree to a point. Certainly it’s almost insulting nowadays to simply say something is delightful or charming; we […]

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Susan Glickman

Facts and Fiction: Artful Flight

February 3, 2015 by Susan Glickman | Leave a Comment

I’d like to recommend two of my favourite books for writers, one ostensibly fiction and the other, not. Except that both are so idiosyncratic, so luminously zany, so full of revelatory insights, humour and poignancy, that generic boundaries seem to melt and what you take away from each is reaffirmation of not only why you […]

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James Harbeck

Whom Do You Believe? | Linguistics, Frankly

January 20, 2015 by James Harbeck | 2 Comments on Whom Do You Believe? | Linguistics, Frankly

First of all: If you can avoid using whom, you should. Any but the most formal texts are better off without it; it’s a foreign word for most users, as evidenced by the general inability of even many language professionals to use it quite correctly all the time. Sometimes, however, you have to use it. […]

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: The Elements and Style

December 2, 2014 by Wilf Popoff | 1 Comment on Wasted Words: The Elements and Style

It’s the time of year when heeding weather reports is a good idea: setting out with meagre insulation can be foolhardy. (News flash: “Hypothermia Blamed When Editor Vanishes.”) I glean data from all sources and sally forth properly kitted, but meteorological claptrap can be irritating. A local CBC station announces that temperatures overnight will go […]

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David Ritchie

Do You Need That Adverb?

November 18, 2014 by David Ritchie | 2 Comments on Do You Need That Adverb?

Readers with long memories may recall Tom Swiftie jokes from the early 1960s. Named after the hero in the Tom Swift series of juvenile adventure novels, Tom Swifties relied on a corny use of adverbs. Here are examples: “We’re travelling faster than sound!” said Tom, swiftly. “The temperature is 200 degrees!” said Tom, heatedly. “It’s […]

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James Harbeck

What’s English? | Linguistics, Frankly

November 12, 2014 by James Harbeck | 1 Comment on What’s English? | Linguistics, Frankly

Here’s a quick quiz. Tell me which of the following are English and which aren’t. For each one, say why it is or isn’t English and, if it’s not, what language it is. There’s no place to plug your car in in the parkade. A wha dat dey dem people deh nyam ih smell sweet. […]

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Lori Burwash

Don’t Tick People Off, and Other Tips for Writing and Editing Web Copy

October 14, 2014 by Lori Burwash | 8 Comments on Don’t Tick People Off, and Other Tips for Writing and Editing Web Copy

If you’re writing or editing copy destined for the web, know this: People don’t read. They don’t even finish what they’re not reading. Instead, they scan for answers and, with any luck, take action based on what they find. It’s less about the journey, more about the destination. Your mission, then, is to pave and […]

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Wilf Popoff

Getting Rid of Death

September 23, 2014 by Wilf Popoff | 6 Comments on Getting Rid of Death

Okay, I understand. Most of us simply do not want to die. And over the last two centuries the western world has managed to postpone the occasion: we’ve doubled our lifespan. Postponement, however, is not eradication. Die we must, eventually, although there now appears to be a workaround. Many people are attempting to defeat mortality […]

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Melva McLean

An Editor in a Three-Day Writer’s Boot Camp, Part 3

September 16, 2014 by Melva McLean | 2 Comments on An Editor in a Three-Day Writer’s Boot Camp, Part 3

Later that afternoon, I arrived home and plunked myself down in front of a blank screen. It felt like I’d joined the ranks of such writers as Hemingway and Faulkner, Ludlum and Michener, and many others who’d lost manuscripts and had to start over from scratch. Of course, in this day and age, you don’t […]

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James Harbeck

Seriously, What’s the Problem With Sentence Adverbs? | Linguistics, Frankly

September 9, 2014 by James Harbeck | Leave a Comment

The English language is a very complex and powerful thing, capable of many nuances and quite resistant to simplistic attempts at tidying it up. Sadly, not everyone realizes that. Worse still, many people take very narrow and inconsistent views, focusing on pet peeves while letting parallel instances of usage pass unnoticed. It’s as though a […]

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Abby Egerter

Keenness of Eye and Humble Pie, Along That Path Awards Will Lie

September 2, 2014 by Abby Egerter | Leave a Comment

In this instalment of our “Editors in the Spotlight” series, Abby Egerter interviews editor Jennifer Foster, who worked on the award-winning Dirty Science: 25 Experiments with Soil, by Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone. Jennifer Foster has been editing for 17 years and freelancing for 10. However, book publishing is something of a new venture for […]

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Peter Midgley

The Lucky Ones

August 26, 2014 by Peter Midgley | 3 Comments on The Lucky Ones

How often have I heard the comment that editors are failed writers — or, in the scholarly environment in which I work, failed academics. Even when said in jest, the underlying suggestion is that one way of interacting with words and ideas — the editor’s — is somehow inferior. Such statements also hint at a […]

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Melva McLean

An Editor in a Three-Day Writer’s Boot Camp, Day 2

August 12, 2014 by Melva McLean | Leave a Comment

In every good boot camp movie there’s a scene where a tough army trainer leaves the rebellious recruit out in the cold and rain all night or makes them do 1,000 pushups. This is one way to make the recruit begin to sacrifice ego. The other short story boot camp recruits and I didn’t have […]

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Kimmy Beach

An Intricate Relief Carving on an Eggshell: Working With Peter Midgley on The Last Temptation of Bond

July 22, 2014 by Kimmy Beach | 2 Comments on An Intricate Relief Carving on an Eggshell: Working With Peter Midgley on The Last Temptation of Bond

This is the first in our new “Editors in the Spotlight” series, spotlighting editors who have won awards or participated in award-winning projects. In this post, Kimmy Beach interviews Peter Midgley, who won the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence for editing her book, The Last Temptation of Bond. ~~~ Peter and I meet at […]

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Melva McLean

An Editor in a Three-Day Writer’s Boot Camp, Day 1

July 15, 2014 by Melva McLean | 1 Comment on An Editor in a Three-Day Writer’s Boot Camp, Day 1

Novelist’s Boot Camp Travel Writing Boot Camp Dissertation Writing Boot Camp Resume Writing Boot Camp Children’s Picture Book Boot Camp Okay, STOP. Right there! Seriously? What could be less suited to boot camp than a kid’s picture book? What’s next? And when did the words “boot camp,” i.e., “a military training camp for new recruits, […]

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: Jobspeak, the Language of Work

July 8, 2014 by Wilf Popoff | 6 Comments on Wasted Words: Jobspeak, the Language of Work

At an age when young men are learning to shave, I was hanging out at police stations and courthouses. No, I wasn’t in trouble with the law. I was a newspaper reporter, writing about the legal problems of others and the policemen* who brought them to justice. In fact, the only crimes I committed were […]

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James Harbeck

There’s No Way to Truly Split an Infinitive | Linguistics, Frankly

June 17, 2014 by James Harbeck | Leave a Comment

You can’t split an infinitive. I don’t mean I don’t want you to. I don’t mean it’s not proper to. I mean it’s not possible to. This is for the same reason that I haven’t just broken one off three times, at the ends of the three preceding sentences. The English infinitive is one word. […]

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Anna Williams

Cold Call Case Files

May 13, 2014 by Anna Williams | 1 Comment on Cold Call Case Files

Cold calling. I’ve heard arguments against it — it doesn’t generate work, it’s better to network in person, only word-of-mouth referrals reliably lead to jobs. But I haven’t yet discovered a downside. I can pick and choose all the companies I’d like to work for and start calling them. A phone call only takes a […]

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