Teamwork
Holidays are a great tonic—especially when work can be completely banished. I’ve just returned from sun, sea, and sand where the only thing I had to remember was the plot of the novel I was reading. But returning to work…
My personal style sheet
As editors, we regularly make style sheets for our clients, documenting the decisions we’ve made about spelling, capitalization, and so on that aren’t covered in the larger style guide we’ve been directed to use. Sometimes clients actually ask us to…
What’s in a name?
In March, mature coastal Douglas-firs are 12 months into their 17-month reproductive cycle. March is the time of pollen making, and in April the pollen-bearing cones burst and pollination of the seed cones begins. Pseudotsuga menziesii was first discovered on…
The talented Ms. Tomlin
There has never been a West Coast Editorial Associates without Barbara Tomlin—until now. On January 1, 2016, Barbara officially retired from the partnership she co-founded with six other experienced editors in 1992. Barbara is not “retired retired.” She continues to…
Word tonic for winter-weary editors
T.S. Eliot wrote that April is the cruellest month. To my mind, January on the West Coast runs a close second. Even though we’re past the winter solstice, the hours of darkness still exceed the hours of light, and the…
Remembering Janis
It saddens us profoundly to report that Janis Barr, our dear friend and partner, died suddenly on November 18, 2015. Her adored husband, John, and other family members were by her side. Janis joined West Coast Editorial Associates in 1997,…
Janis Barr
It saddens us profoundly to report that Janis Barr, our dear friend and partner, died on November 18, 2015. We will post a tribute to her in the days to come.
A hallowed tradition
Last night, it being Halloween—or perhaps Hallowe’en—I spent a few minutes thinking about apostrophes again. My blog writing schedule seems to be governed by dates of note that may or may not take apostrophes (see my April 1 posting on…
If we weren’t persons, who were we?
As editors, we know the power of choosing the right words to get a message across to readers. As readers ourselves, we see how words can change people’s perceptions: are the thousands of people on the move “migrants”—or are they…
Changing hats
Although I’ve been a writer and editor for almost 30 years, most of my work has been outside the book publishing world, and I’ve never worked in-house. So when I pitched a children’s book idea to Orca Book Publishers a…
