A few months ago, I wrote about exploring and Finding your Niche in the editing world. One of the niches I stumbled into—and ended up loving—was editing poetry. Poetry is a unique form of writing. With its depth and variety comes a wide range of approaches to revision and editing. To edit poetry well, you …
“How do you do it?” I’m often asked how I balance working from home with being a mom, wife, partner—and all the day-to-day details that keep a household running. First, I’ll be honest: I’m not sure there’s such a thing as a perfect balance. Working from home is a fantastic experience, and I genuinely love …
I enjoy editing, but what I love most is how often one project turns into a long-term relationship. Working with an author over time can be an incredible ride—full of shared Mallory, through an email fan group. We connected over our love of writing, read each other’s work, and traded gentle critiques. Over time, she …
One of the most common questions I’ve answered in my career as a freelance editor is, “What type of editor are you?” It’s usually followed by: “What types of editing are there?” and “What type of editing do I need?” These questions matter because they open the door to an essential conversation: what does your …
Early last fall, I had the privilege of editing a poetry collection by Oliver Munro. Working with poets is one of my favorite parts of this job. Poetry editing is its own kind of partnership: you need a strong foundation in craft and technique, but you also need the rare editor’s skill of knowing when …
Over the years, I’ve often been asked, “What sort of things do you edit?” When I first started, in my complete naïveté, I found this puzzling. I’m an editor; I edit everything. Through trial and (much) error—hello, learning curve—I realized that’s not the most helpful answer. Yes, I can edit just about anything you throw …
Because I’ve been editing professionally for more than 20 years, people often ask what my formal educational background in editing is. The answer is: not much—at least not directly. My path into editing started well before college, when my father (a biochemistry professor) had a graduate student who asked me to review one of her …
When I’m editing academic and research documents, one of the first things I ask a new client is which style guide they’re using. Clients also ask which guides I’m comfortable with—and like most editors, I have a few I know especially well. If you edit long enough, you’ll run into plenty of specialty styles tied …
“Welcome to my world!” is the first line of the first poem in my upcoming poetry book—and when I sat down to write the very first post for An Editor’s Journey, it felt like the perfect place to begin. I’m genuinely excited to start this new adventure. I’ve been editing for more than two and …