I love editing in all its forms—and no wonder! I've been a book worm for as long as I can remember, and I became aware of typos, misplaced apostrophes, and grammar errors from an early age. In my family, this fascination with the well-honed written word, coupled with an ear for the rhythms of English, is just par for the course. We are a family of music lovers and bibliophiles. So no one seemed surprised that I chose to go on majoring in English for as long as it took me to earn two advanced degrees in literature. My sister did much the same thing, though her path led to library school.
Between 1983 and 2004, I taught college-level composition at University of Idaho and a variety of writing classes, as well as literature and humanities, at Washington State University. In August of 2004, I moved to the Puget Sound area and launched Seattle Editing in 2006. The twin strands of my career, teaching and editing, complemented each other well. In 2009 I added a third strand when I earned my TESL certificate. Teaching English language skills to bilingual learners helped prepare me to edit the writings of non-native speakers.
Teaching
While earning my master's and doctoral degrees, I taught four different writing classes: remedial writing, freshman writing, research writing, and advanced writing. Teaching my students how to polish their writing and improve the focus, content, and structure of their essays helped me become a more accomplished editor and writing coach.
Editing
As a grad student, I landed my first editing job at Washington State University, where I proofread submissions for three literary journals. After earning my doctorate, I edited essays, letters, proposals, academic articles, theses, and reports during teaching breaks. Since then I have broadened my skills to include developmental and substantve editing, copyediting, and line editing. I eventually widened my focus to include book-length manuscripts, both fiction and nonfiction.
ESL
After receiving my TESL certificate, I taught ESL writing classes at two refuge centers and at Edmonds College. As a result, I am better able to help non-native English speakers revise their work.
Seattle (Etcetera) Editing
Since 2006 I have operated a freelance editing service in Seattle and Edmonds. At first I would accept nearly any job that came my way. These days the majority of my clients are writing books for self-publication, though a few of them are under contract with publishers. Most of my clients begin with a developmental edit or a manuscript critique and later return for copy editing or line editing.
Here I am at my desk editing a manuscript.
Click here for my editing resume.
