I edit all kinds of scientific and general materials, from grant proposals to government and business reports, chemistry, oil sands, and engineering research papers to safety materials, autobiographies to medical posters to trade books, and rocket science (really!) scripts and web pages to fiction novels, textbooks, and children's books. I've been at this for more than twelve years so far, and I still love it!

Recently I took a stint getting Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) up and running in downtown Calgary, and am now a Senior Technical Editor with Golder Associates. I take on freelance gigs for nice clients and interesting clients these days -- feel free to try to pique my interest!

I have my Professional Chemist's designation and am a Certified Yoga Teacher. I taught high school chemistry and math back in the day and have travelled extensively.

Some examples of praise I've received from clients:

"This is why (in addition of you making me sound like a decent English-writing person) I like working with you… You ask real questions on stuff that I take for granted." (from a university Chemistry professor/researcher)

"So happy to be working with you again. You get things done in a timely fashion, a rarity both in and out of government." (National Laboratory Health and Safety Officer, Canadian Food Inspection Agency)

"Your article was truly lovely. You captured the feeling and the ambience (and the facts) in such a beautiful way." (from an attendee at an event I wrote about)

"Thanks Christa. You performed an excellent job.  I love your critique. I believe to move forward in one's writing - accepting critique it is part of a healthy attitude. You are one of the better judges." (from a writing contest organizer)

"Thank you for your very thorough review of this report. I've incorporated the vast majority of your changes and I've provided better explanations for areas that you suggested were confusing or unclear. It's been a pleasure working with you." (from a Canadian government science agency)

"I just wanted to let you know that the client was very pleased with your work as a reviewer. I wish there was another unit we could give you! Thanks for doing a great job and for making me look good, too." (from a scientific trade book editor)

"We were quite impressed with your work. We are open to all your suggestions. While reading your changes we sensed it was as if you were there. We think you can be a great benefit to this book." (from a husband-wife autobiography team)

I am experienced in finding omissions and errors in logic in complex material, in spotting detail errors, and in simplifying and clarifying language to make your high-level text more accessible to readers of all levels. Clients often comment that my edits are very thorough, and sometimes that they appreciate my useful suggestions to improve future writing and delivery almost as much as the visible improvements to the quality and comprehensibility of their documents.

I have written, edited, and consulted with educational publishing teams that create texts to support productive, enriching, intriguing learning for teen, pre-teen, and adult (including aboriginal ESL) audiences, and am passionately committed to good pedagogy, high quality, and accuracy. I am innovative, creative, cooperative, flexible, thorough, and even occasionally brilliant at developing curriculum-related text, puzzles, problems, projects, newspaper columns, experiments, special feature articles, and other learning tools. I have been a professional teacher, tutor, and instructor of many subjects at many levels.

On the personal side, I am ranch-raised, city-educated, and well-travelled with a broad interest base. These traits have come in handy in several general-interest editing projects, which I also enjoy from time to time (from letters and brochures to novels).

Little bucket of other search terms: academic, chemical, chemist, biology, biological, physics, physical, science, journal, article, articles, journals, thesis, theses, grants, math, mathematics, educator, education, plain language, easy, simple, simplification, reading level, first nations, native, novels, write, edit, editor, speak, speaker, oil, gas, government, report, ranch, farm, cow, cattle, livestock, agriculture, crops, crop, horse, horses, Christianity, religion, spirituality, autobiography, biography, music, flute