Working with a workplace writing coach
Regardless of whether you enjoy or dread your workplace writing tasks, you may find it helpful to work with a writing coach.
New year, new learning
As we say goodbye to the roller coaster of 2021 and welcome the new year, we also bid adieu to our affiliate partner, Frances Peck. Frances has hung up her training cloak to focus on creative writing; her first novel,…
Let’s celebrate plain language
Plain language week—October 11–15—is approaching and it’s time to celebrate. In the past, festivities have included public demonstrations, conferences, and art and music exhibitions of plain language. Sadly, there is no special feast or street party celebrating plain language this…
What’s in a name?
In the midst of a global pandemic and social distancing, many editors may have missed a significant change in name and branding of a 32-year-old editing organization. On March 1, 2020, the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) became the…
New partner
We are delighted to announce today that Lana Okerlund is a new partner with West Coast Editorial Associates. A Vancouver-based editor, writer, and indexer, Lana works primarily on non-fiction books and publications. She is a Certified Copy Editor and Certified Proofreader, a trainer…
The art of the query
Carol Fisher Saller, editor of the Chicago Manual of Style Online’s Q&A, writes in her book The Subversive Copy Editor, “To see the author-editor relationship as inherently adversarial is to doom yourself to a career of angst and stress.” Fisher…
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…
Join the exaltation of editors flocking to Toronto
From June 12 to 14, the Editors’ Association of Canada is hosting its annual conference, this year in Toronto (and this year co-presented with the Professional Writers Association of Canada). Dubbed “the first global conference of editors,” the Editing Goes Global…
Cut and paste—collage as thinking tool
When I taught business writing, I found many participants grew weary of the “do-the-exercise-discuss-with-your neighbour” training model. Because the course covered a range of strategies for page fright, I hoped that at least one of them would stick. Enter collage.…
A usage myth that’s more than over
Like witnessing the demolition of a derelict building, there’s something splendid about seeing a false language idol topple. And topple it did when the Associated Press Stylebook announced in March that it’s now okay to use “over” interchangeably with “more…