In the eighteen years that I have been a full-time freelancer, I have edited books, articles, websites, blogs, reports, and press releases, on topics that include religion and spirituality, work life, literature, personal finance, environmental causes, history, and medicine. I’ve been hired by publishers, editors, writers, nonprofits, start-ups, corporations, and media companies. While the clients I work for and the content I edit have changed, the work I do—mechanical and substantive editing—hasn’t; depending on the project, I could be reading a piece of writing with an eye focused on grammar, syntax, usage, and style, or helping a writer organize and present her work, or making suggestions about how to reframe or rewrite something that needs more work. My goal is always to ensure that the writing is clear, consistent, accurate, and in line with the writer’s intentions.
Having spent so many years working as an editor, both in-house and as a freelancer, I think a lot about how the work has changed since I started out, and how to do my job better. What I love most about this work is the problem-solving aspect—or, more accurately, solving problems with words—and working with writers and for readers. Because of this, I have taught workshops to writers about how to be better editors of their own work, and I look for opportunities to mentor editors who are starting out in the field. I hope to show them some of the challenge, intrigue, and, yes, creativity that I believe exists in this work.