Keynotes and Copyediting Fiction with Amy J. Schneider
Red Pencil is back after a four-year hiatus, and we’re pleased to announce that Amy J. Schneider, a veteran editor and author of the new book, The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s conference. If you haven’t registered yet, the deadline for the Early Bird registration has been extended to March 13, so don’t miss out! Read on to hear from Amy about her keynote, staying current in the publishing industry, and how her StetPet, “Alice the Land Shark,” helps her work.
Presenting at Red Pencil with Joanie Eppinga
The deadline for submitting presentation proposals and ideas for Red Pencil 2023 has been extended to Sunday, October 16, so if you’ve got something you want to share with the editing community (or you have an idea you want to suggest someone else share, especially if they’re local!), please get in touch with our conference planning committee. In case you’re nervous about speaking in front of a large group, we want to assure you that Red Pencil is just about the friendliest group you could start with! I sat down with Guild member and past Red Pencil conference and ACES presenter Joanie Eppinga to chat with her about her experiences and advice about presenting.
Give Back by Volunteering for the EdsGuild
Do you want to help create beneficial opportunities for fellow editors? All it takes is your time and knowledge and signing up for one of the Northwest Editors Guild’s upcoming volunteer options.
The Guild is now in the process of recruiting volunteers for board service (beginning in January 2022) as well as conference planning for the next Red Pencil Conference in Seattle (scheduled for late 2022).
Building Relationships: A Post-Conference Conversation
To all the editors who participated in the Northwest Editors Guild’s Red Pencil Conference 2019 in September, we’d like to say once more—thank you for joining us! It was a day full of new perspectives, new ideas, new skills, and new voices. It was also a day for celebrating editors and our commitment to creating bridges between writers and readers.
We would also like to thank once again the many supporters who stepped up to make the Guild’s first scholarship program a reality this year. Six Voice & Voices scholarships were awarded to encourage six editors to attend their first Red Pencil Conference. We hope they will continue to add their voices to our growing editorial community.
English as We Have Loved It
When Amy Einsohn’s classic Copyeditor’s Handbook was first published in 2000, at least 50 percent of copyeditors in the book industry (a sector of publishing rarely ahead of the technology curve) were still marking paper manuscripts with No. 2 pencils, according to panelists at a conference for on-screen editing held in San Francisco that year. Many deft amateurs still learned their craft, as Amy and I had, by apprenticing to a battle-tested in-house editor or by following hand-marked foul copy while proofreading typeset galleys. Publishers, the traditional gatekeepers of content, still typically anointed lucky authors for fifteen minutes of fame, although spurned writers sometimes resorted to the widely disparaged practice of “vanity publishing” by digging into their own pockets. Some of us editors even had “real jobs”—the kind with regular paychecks and benefits. (Secure in my niche as managing editor at the University of California Press, I was among the fortunate ones.)
The culture and practice of editing have profoundly changed since then.
Red Pencil Conference 2019: Access to Learning
Accessibility can mean many things. Everyone’s needs and experiences are different. In the writing and editing world, plain language is defined as language that allows users to find, understand, and use the information they need. This definition focuses on the end result—it’s about people getting what they need. Along those lines, my current definition of accessibility is an environment that allows each of us to find and use the space we need to participate and to learn. That includes physical, mental, emotional, and even social space.
Red Pencil Conference 2019: July Conference News
On the blog last month, the June conference news post shared a first peek at sessions you’ll have the chance to attend in September. This month we’re offering a peek at the rest of the lineup—from presentations on building your business and taking care of your health to sessions that address the conference theme of Voice & Voices in different ways and from different perspectives.
Red Pencil Conference 2019: June Conference News
Have you noticed we’re excited about what’s coming this September? The Northwest Editors Guild’s Red Pencil Conference 2019: Voice & Voices is getting closer and closer, and we hope you’re excited too. Registration is open now, and you’ll get the best price if you register before July 31 at the early bird rates.
Red Pencil Conference 2019: Welcome Keynote Speaker Viniyanka Prasad
The 2017 Red Pencil conference, which I attended as I was transitioning into full-time freelancing, was my introduction to the Northwest Editors Guild. In that one day, I learned an enormous amount from both the presenters and other participants, and I remember being particularly inspired by the keynote speech given by Karen Yin, creator of Conscious Style Guide. When guild member Kyra Freestar asked me to join the 2019 conference committee, I wasn’t sure what my role would be, but I knew I would gain a lot from the collective knowledge and perspectives of the other members.
And indeed, we’ve had several long and stimulating conversations about the conference theme and programming, including about what we would be excited to hear in a keynote.
Red Pencil Conference 2019: Voice & Voices
The Red Pencil conference is a gathering to share in a day of making connections with fellow editors and puzzling with words. This year’s lineup features over twenty professionals from a variety of backgrounds, some whose names you will recognize and some who we are thrilled to welcome into the Red Pencil community for the first time. We’ve designed a mix of sessions to help us tighten our craft, strengthen our business and self-care skills, and stretch our understanding of our place as intermediaries in a dynamic and evolving field.
Our theme, Voice & Voices, explores how we as editors engage with the concept of voice at its many levels. Beyond the daily practice of editing voice on the page, the conference examines our part in championing the unique voices of the under- and unheard and our role in fostering communication rather than acting as gatekeepers. We will look at how we can do this and why it matters. Most importantly, we will look at how editors can better support the voices of a greater range of writers, publishers, and readers, with a professionalism and polish that lifts and honors their words and needs.