Editing While Parenting
Many of us have found ourselves busier than usual over the last couple of years, and the situation for parents has been even busier. Covid-19 brought with it concerns about childcare, lockdown, safety, and remote schooling, as well as changes to the way many of us do our regular jobs. The Northwest Editors Guild Blog Team recently had a chance to chat over Google Docs with five busy editors who are also parents, to find out how they’re making it all fit together.
How to Get the Most Out of the Guild’s Member Directory
As a member of the Guild, of course you want to make sure that your profile on the member directory presents you in the best possible light to potential clients who might find you via our search page, but there’s a lot more to that than just selecting your areas of specialty (and keeping them updated as your career progresses). For example, did you know that clients can leave recommendations on your profile? Read on a few top tips on how to get the most out of the member directory.
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).
BREATHE: Overcoming Writer’s Block
I once had a job attempting to novelize a video game that (somehow) had no script, and every time I told the project manager, “I’m stuck,” they would tell me, “It’s okay, you just need to wait for the muse to inspire you!”
Needless to say, that book never got written, because—more’s the pity—working writers don’t have the luxury of waiting for inspiration to strike. When a deadline’s looming, and the writer’s block is pressing down, you often don’t have any other option but to keep going, even when that feels like beating your head against a brick wall.
Thankfully, there are some things you can do to help break through the (hopefully metaphorical) wall.
Taking the Sting Out of Editing with Ariel Anderson of ‘Edit Your Darlings’
As a new-ish editor, I spend a lot of time researching and learning about editing, whether that’s through reading books, watching videos about it on YouTube, or listening to podcasts. Unfortunately, finding the latter can be a little tricky, since “editing podcast” or “podcasts about editing” or “show me an editing podcast, damn it” all yield results about how to edit your podcast. While I’ve learned it helps to be more specific (searching “podcasts about copyediting,” for example), to emerging editors who haven’t quite found their niche yet, it can be a little daunting when you don’t know where to start.
So I was delighted to learn that Seattle Guild member Ariel Anderson has her own podcast, titled Edit Your Darlings, where she covers a broad range of editing subjects through her interviews.
The Ergonomic Challenges of Armrests for Short People
Office chair and desk ergonomics is a well-established subject with a wealth of information freely available on the Internet. Chair height, lumbar support, and monitor height are all familiar topics for most people who spend the majority of their workday at a desk. But I want to move the spotlight over to a particular topic in chair ergonomics that isn’t discussed as much, but has huge ramifications for short people like me (under 5’4” for female-assigned bodies or 5’6” for male-assigned bodies): armrest height.
Are You Game for a New Kind of Mouse?
For a good part of my elementary school years my reading diet included large portions of Tom Swift, Danny Dunn, and Alvin Fernald, those midcentury envoys of STEM, the boy-inventors. This probably goes a long way toward explaining why I’m always on the lookout for ways to reduce my workload through technology, preferably technology with blinking lights. So when I first came across a mouse designed for computer gaming, the idea of turning it into an editing productivity tool was very alluring. I was surprised, however, that I couldn’t find anything written on the subject—there are plenty of blog posts about gaming mice by video editors and photo editors but apparently none by editors of writing.
Volunteering Keeps the Guild Growing
As a small nonprofit professional organization, the Northwest Editors Guild relies heavily on volunteers to keep our operations going. April is Global Volunteer Month and the third week of April is National Volunteer Week, so there’s no better time to learn about the ways you can help make a difference in the editing community by volunteering with the Guild.
Editing Certificate Programs — Are They Worthwhile?
Back in November of 2020, the blog committee surveyed Guild members to learn more about their opinions of editing certificate programs. We had a general sense, before we started, that a fair portion of Guild members had completed an editing certificate, but what we really wanted to know was: How worthwhile did editors wind up finding those programs after they’d completed them?
Welcome, 2021 Board Members!
Every year the Northwest Editors Guild’s board loses some past members and gains a few new ones, and every year here on the Guild’s blog we take a moment to introduce you to the dedicated volunteers on our board who work so hard to keep things running smoothly. This year we say farewell to outgoing board members Erin Cusick, Michael Schuler, and Matt Bennett, and hello to new members Sarah M. Peterson, Erica Akiko Howard, Alessandor Earnest, and Ivonne B. Ward!
Find out more about the new (and ongoing) board members below, and be sure to say hello if you meet them at an event.