I was tempted to subtitle this post “How writing a blog led to me closing my business,” but that is only partially true. I got the idea as I was creating my just-in-case file after my post on that subject in the spring. However, the full story is more nuanced (isn’t it always?), and many factors combine to make me take a hard look at my business model.
Background
In some senses, my editing journey has been lifelong, as I’ve always read with a critical eye. The skill was honed over years of education in languages (I studied French, Latin, Spanish and German in high school) as well as science (B.Sc. Hons, Life Sciences; M.Sc. Microbiology), followed by many volunteer years. But I didn’t begin editing professionally (i.e., being paid directly for the work) until around 2018; I called it my third career.
Spit & Polish Editing
From 2019 to 2025, I owned Spit & Polish Editing, concentrating primarily on “book edits” (a combination of developmental and stylistic editing) for independent fiction authors. The vast majority of my work is fantasy, but that is mostly because I have one client who is prolific in the genre. A couple of years ago, I also started assisting her with tasks related to the website and newsletter. But my biggest client (by hours and dollars) is a publisher of boxed text for tabletop role-playing games (RPG). They found me on a Google search for “Canadian fantasy editor,” and I got an email asking for a video chat. I’m so glad I stepped outside my comfort zone and said yes! I have been the lead editor at dScryb since 2021, a job that includes both direct editing and some administrative work.
The Present
On June 30, my husband retired after 31 years as a professor. We had always planned to move back to the eastern time zone once he retired but were thinking of taking a year to make the transition. What’s that saying, “Man makes plans and the gods laugh”? Yeah, that happened. For many life reasons, the date of that move got pulled back from 2026 to fall 2025 to July 2025 (some of those reasons are mentioned in Editing in Times of Chaos and Loss).
Spit & Polish Editing was registered in Nova Scotia, with payment due at the end of June. My website and domain renewal were also due around the same time. I was also navigating all the other changes that are precipitated by a move. As I was working through my just-in-case document for my business, I realized that 90% of the information was going to change when we moved. That gave me reason to pause and made me really consider what the different registrations and such were providing me. For instance, was my website (which I hadn’t updated in over a year) really serving any purpose? And so, I decided to shut the business down.
The Future
It wasn’t really as abrupt as that sounds. I spoke with my regular and repeat clients, and they all confirmed it is me, not my business, that they want to work with. So really, I am switching from a business contract to a personal (SIN-based) contract with each of them. I’m well aware that this means new clients will not find me, and I am actually fine with that as I’ve been redirecting most queries to other editors.
With my husband now retired, and the new house starting to take shape, I also realized that this new phase brings with it new dynamics. Work has a habit of expanding to fill the time we allow for it. I have “bulldog” tendencies: if there’s something I need to do, I gnaw at it until it’s done. But if there’s space in my day, I will find other activities to fill it with. I’m also not good with transitions, and the thought of starting from scratch looking for new clients — if those regulars suddenly disappeared — is daunting. Yet knowing I wouldn’t start over is also freeing in many ways. I enjoy working with my current clients; they’re wonderful people. I have also learned over the years what aspects of the editing field I am less enamoured of (coaching new writers is not one of my strengths, for example) and that I enjoy a mix of administrative-type work with the actual editing.
So I will enjoy doing the work I’m doing, but will leave the guiding of new writers to others in the field.
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Nicola Aquino
Nicola started her fourth career, as a freelance editor, in 2018, concentrating primarily on fantasy developmental editing. Her work now consists of editing boxed text for RPGs (role-playing games) and a few select novel series, as well as doing personal assistant (well, technically virtual assistant) work for a regular client.