Editor
Category: Editing
A behind-the-scenes look at the Blue Pencil (Editors BC meeting)
Lower Mainland editors have probably heard of the Vancouver Public Library’s Blue Pencil sessions but may not know what they involve. At January’s Editors BC meeting, moderator Wendy Barron and a panel of editors who’ve participated in them—Sarah Robins, Erin Parker, Meagan Dyer, and Nancy Tinari—set out to demystify the program and encourage other editors to volunteer. Continue reading “A behind-the-scenes look at the Blue Pencil (Editors BC meeting)”
Two fraught dots
There’s no shortage of examples of missing or misplaced punctuation causing confusion. When used properly, most punctuation should add clarity. But the colon has the remarkable ability to add ambiguity—sometimes hilariously—even when correctly used:
Sentence construction is really important. pic.twitter.com/WoJxCrMbD0
— Imran Garda (@ImranGarda) January 4, 2017
I dunno, he’s just one bloke, I reckon we could take him. pic.twitter.com/LVPYU6bqiL
— Phil Fersht (@pfersht) July 19, 2015
Post-truth
The trade-book trap
First impressions matter a lot, according to the psychological concept of anchoring, a cognitive bias that describes our tendency to rely too much on the first piece of information we’re given. Continue reading “The trade-book trap”
App
Cookbook editing (Editors BC meeting)
October’s Editors BC meeting featured a panel on cookbook editing including
- Jesse Marchand, editing instructor in SFU’s Editing Certificate program and former associate publisher of Whitecap Books,
- Denise Marchessault, a classically trained cook and co-author of British Columbia from Scratch, a cookbook with a focus on local, seasonal ingredients, and
- Lana Okerlund, partner of West Coast Editorial Associates and editor for such cookbook publishers as Appetite by Random House and Figure 1 Publishing.
Greg Younging—Indigenous editorial issues
Greg Younging, member of Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba and publisher of Theytus Books, led an engaging, eye-opening seminar on Indigenous editorial issues for members of the Association of Book Publishers of BC (ABPBC), which invited Editors BC to join in. Younging was Assistant Director of Research for the federal government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and is chair of the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus of the Creator’s Rights Alliance. His seminar was a perfect balance of important historical context and practical suggestions. I’ll do my best to recap the highlights, but if you ever get the opportunity to attend this seminar or more in-depth training through the Indigenous Editors Circle (formerly Aboriginal Editors Circle), I’d highly recommend taking it. Continue reading “Greg Younging—Indigenous editorial issues”
Markup
#EditorProblems
I used this hashtag in a tweet about a perennial editorial irritant and figured I’d make it into a one-framer:
Once I made the blank, I immediately found other uses for it—recurring #EditorProblems that probably don’t merit their own strip: Continue reading “#EditorProblems”