Editors British Columbia Professional Development Seminars

Upcoming Seminars and Events

Edit Memoir Like a Producer with JJ Lee 

Edit Memoir Like a Producer with JJ Lee 
 

When: Saturday, November 18, 2023, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm PST
Where: Online via Zoom
 
What makes for a compelling memoir? And how can you, as an editor or writing coach, best work with your clients to translate their lived experiences onto the page? 
 
Join JJ Lee—award-winning memoirist, radio host, and writing teacher—as he explains common problems that arise in memoir drafts, and strategies for addressing these problems with your clients. 
 
After attending this seminar, participants will be able to: 

• identify a memoir’s central story question (or lack thereof),
• spot overreliance on the habitual past tense,
• guide clients toward the specific and explain why doing so matters,
• use beat sheets to structure a memoir, and
• coach writers on impactful scene building.

 
Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the seminar content, ask questions, and put their learning into practice on a sample passage from a real memoir. While this seminar is geared toward editors, it may also be suitable for writing coaches, writing teachers, and other professionals who work with individuals to tell personal stories through written or spoken mediums. 
 
Participants will need a stable internet connection and the ability to open and apply markup to PDF documents. Participants must be able to attend the Zoom seminar via video call, rather than by telephone.
 
This seminar will be recorded.  

JJ Lee (he/him) is a memoir writer and essayist. His book The Measure of Man: the Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit was a Governor General's, Hubert Davis BC Book Prize, Charles Taylor, and Hilary Weston Writers' Trust finalist for nonfiction. He teaches the nonfiction workshop at The Writer's Studio (Simon Fraser University) and teaches writing at The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. His essays and features have appeared in ELLE Canada, ELLE Man, Fashion, Flare, Montecristo, and Nuvo magazines. 
 
Register online now!
 

 

Style Sheets with Substance with Lucy Kenward

When: Tuesday, September 26, and Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm PDT
 

Where: Online via Zoom

Style sheets set out the information writers and editors need about spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and other mechanics. They ensure a manuscript remains internally consistent and adheres to the standards of the publication. And no matter how detailed an organization’s own style guide, every document can benefit from having its own style sheet. Using examples of style sheets for projects ranging from cookbooks to corporate publications, this workshop will teach you how to prepare a style sheet that saves time, effort, and money for everyone in the production chain. Through hands-on activities and discussion, you will:

• learn what elements are necessary for a style sheet to be truly useful for editing and, just as important, what elements should be left out;
• explore similarities and differences between the style sheets for different types of publications;
• discover various tools to compile and revise style sheets; and
• understand how to turn a series of individual project style sheets into a broader style guide for an organization.

 

Whether you’re an experienced editor or new to the editing world, you will come away from the workshop with tips and tools to create, maintain, and effectively use style sheets for any type of editing project. 

 

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A partner with West Coast Editorial Associates and a part-time editorial associate with Greystone Books, Lucy Kenward edits non-fiction books, educational materials, and business reports. In 2010, she won Editors Canada’s Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence. Lucy also teaches proofreading in Simon Fraser University’s Editing Certificate program and clear business writing for a variety of corporate clients. For this workshop, she draws on her experience developing hundreds of style sheets and following even more of them—some incredibly helpful, others passably useful, and a few downright confusing or lacking in information. She finds style sheets to be one of the most underrated yet valuable tools in the editing toolbox.

 

Register online now

Registration cap: 25 
This seminar will not be recorded. 

 

Early bird on or before September 5, 2023
Member: $70; Non-member: $150; Student affiliate: $50

After September 5, 2023
Member: $90; Non-member: $170; Student affiliate: $50

Registration closes Thursday, September 21, 2023

Past Seminars and Events 2022–2023

2023 Editors BC Study Groups: Structural Editing with Robyn So 

When:
7:30 to 9:00 pm PDT/PST on the following Thursdays:

July 20

August 3

August 17

August 31

September 14

September 28

October 12

October 26

November 9

November 16 or 23 (TBD based on exam date)
 

Where:
Online via Zoom

Optional donation:
$50

Are you thinking about writing the Editors Canada structural editing certification exam in November? Whether you’re committed or undecided, join editing colleagues from across the province to work through the Editors Canada study materials in a confidential and supportive environment. 

The Editors BC Study Group will meet on Zoom to discuss the exercises, share knowledge and skills, provide accountability, and foster confidence to write the certification exam.

Robyn So will facilitate the structural editing study group. Note that the study group is not a course and the facilitator will not teach these skills. It’s expected that participants have advanced knowledge of and extensive experience with the subject matter and can mentor one another as they work through the study materials. Editors BC cannot guarantee that participants will pass the exam.

You are welcome to join the study group if:

• You are an Editors Canada member.
• You are planning to write the Editors Canada structural editing exam in November, or you are interested in working through Meeting Professional Editorial Standards for structural editing to assess whether you are ready to write the exam.
• You have extensive experience with structural editing or proofreading.
• You can commit to participating in all sessions.
• You can commit to doing the exercises and readings according to the schedule.
• You are comfortable using Zoom and Google Drive, or you are willing to learn to use these platforms.

To participate, you will need the following:

• Professional Editorial Standards (2016)—download for free from Editors Canada.
• Structural Editing: Meeting Professional Editorial Standards 2nd ed. (2011)—purchase online from Editors Canada (see: https://www.editors.ca/publications/meeting-professional-editorial-standards). 
• Structural Editing Test Preparation Guide (the certification practice exam)—purchase online from Editors Canada (see: https://www.editors.ca/publications/certification-test-preparation-guides).
• A high-speed Internet connection.
• Basic reference books and style manuals that you will use for the exam.

Robyn So is a Certified Structural Editor and Certified Stylistic Editor with a freelance business, So Professional Editorial Services. She edits non-fiction, fiction, and academic books for a variety of publishers.

Click here to register.

Meet Your Future Self: Free Student-Focused Group Networking Event

Do you want to meet experienced editors whose work and lived experience can inform your career trajectory? Do you have questions about working freelance or in-house, in fiction or non-fiction, or      in print or digital mediums? Not sure what training or conferences you should participate in? Want to hear from experienced professionals with diverse work and lived experiences? Come to “Meet Your Future Self”!

In support of our student editors, Editors BC presents “Meet Your Future Self,” a free networking event where new and experienced editors can put faces to names, share knowledge, and build relationships across levels of expertise.

The event will be held online through Zoom from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm PDT on Saturday, May 6, 2023.

During the event, students will have the opportunity to meet with two or three experienced editors. These editors will share their individual work, lived experiences, and areas of expertise spanning multiple work environments, genres, and forms.

Registration for students is now open. Registration will close on May 3, 2023, at 11:59 pm PDT. Spots are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are an Editors Canada student affiliate member residing in BC and are interested in participating, don’t delay! Register for the event here.

Attendance at this event is restricted to student affiliates only. If you are not currently a student affiliate member of Editors Canada but would like to become one, you can join the organization here.

If you have any questions, concerns, or accessibility requests related to this event, please contact the Editors BC professional development co-chairs at seminars@editorsbc.ca.
 

     Working with Self-Publishing Authors

  When: Saturday, April 15, 2023 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm PDT

Where: Online via Zoom

Working with self-publishing authors is a unique and often gratifying experience for editors. But if these do-it-yourself writers need extra support on their publishing journey, being “just” an editor is not always enough to help them. Merielle Kazakoff will share how she found her way into the self-publishing field, how she has adapted to the needs of her clients, and why she loves working in this fast-growing book market. You’ll also learn:

• the role of an editor in self-publishing,
• what you need to know beyond editing,
• how to help authors past the editing stage,
• the different publishing options for authors, and
• the different paths editors can take with self-publishing.

If you like diversity in your work and are open to learning something new, then self-publishing is a great world to be in!

Merielle Kazakoff strongly advocates for all storytellers as a freelance editor and a writing and publishing coach. With her diverse writing and publishing background, she enjoys the creative freedom and different challenges that come with each writer she works alongside. Through a regional literacy group, she teaches Writing Out Loud workshops based on freewriting and is a volunteer tutor in Newcomers’ English classes. Throughout the year, she’s a story judge for NYC Midnight, an international short-story challenge based out of New York. When not working with words, she’s exploring nature on her paddleboard or out with her camera taking photos to share in her local art gallery.

Aligning Expectations: Contracts between Editors and Indie Authors with Karin Horwatt Cather

When: Saturday, March 11, 2023, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm PST 
Where: Online via Zoom

“Aligning Expectations” will discuss the need for a contract between an editor and an author. This webinar is for freelance editors who are interested in protecting the rights and responsibilities of both editor and author with a written service agreement. A clearly worded service agreement aligns the expectations of both authors and editors, which prevents disagreements and hard feelings on both sides. Aligned expectations between the parties prevent editors from feeling exploited and authors from feeling ripped off.

Please note that nothing in this webinar constitutes legal advice and we do not have an attorney–client relationship. Each student is strongly encouraged to consult a legal professional of their own choosing for advice on drafting your service agreement.

This webinar will cover the following:

• what a service agreement is
• the pitfalls and “left turns” in editing projects
• potential red-flag clients
• potential scammers
• the impact of the above on your professional relationship (and your sanity)
• writing your service agreement
• ambiguous service agreements
• nondisclosure and noncompetition clauses
• clients in breach
• what to do if you’re accused of being in breach
• appropriate editor–author communications

In the discussion section, students are encouraged to share “war stories” and discuss what terms in a service agreement would prevent these problems.

At the conclusion of the seminar, students will be able to identify areas of concern unique to their practice and craft their service agreement terms to protect against these concerns. They will also learn how to respond to problems caused by the author breaking the service agreement or if the author accuses the editor of breaking it and how to craft an appropriate remedy, if any.

Participants will need an internet connection and access to Microsoft Word or Google Docs in order to read the supplemental materials provided (a sample service agreement, sample request for payment, sample communications to authors). No previous editorial experience is required, but it can’t hurt.
 
Karin Horwatt Cather is a former prosecutor and child welfare attorney who left the practice of law in 2013 in order to care for a disabled family member. Karin earned a certificate from UC Berkeley Extension online in the professional sequence in editing (a one-year program), read widely, and lurked heavily on Facebook editing pages before opening her virtual doors in early 2015. Karin also attended the Editing Goes Global conference sponsored by Editors Canada in 2015. Karin was the project manager for a book entitled From Contact to Contract: How Editors Get Clients to Work with Them (published by Editors Canada) and co-authored a book with Dick Margulis entitled The Paper It’s Written On: Defining Your Relationship with an Editing Client. Karin specializes in developmental, structural, line, and copyediting, as well as manuscript evaluations of detective fiction, dystopian fiction (also known as Tuesday), fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, and memoirs written by first responders and attorneys. Karin also ghostwrites novels in those genres.

Karin’s police procedural/science fiction crossover, A Million Monkeys, is currently on the virtual desk of a developmental editor, and the sequel, Sick Puppies, will be ready for editing in February. Karin has a black belt in a martial art called Tactical Black Krav Maga and relies on that training in evaluating the accuracy of written violence in fiction.

 

Antihustle: A One-Day Planning Retreat for Your Freelance Business with Letitia Henville

When: Friday, February 10, 2023, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm PST 
Where: Online via Zoom

Running a solo editing business can be challenging, especially when the day-to-day overwhelms or when you’re stuck in a feast-or-famine cycle. But with a little bit of time and focus, you can find your footing, articulate your vision for your business, and determine the steps you need to take to bring it into being.

Carve out a day to review your business practices and determine your trajectory in this supported, collaborative one-day business retreat. Following the steps of the antihustle.ca First Retreat Workbook, you will:

• declutter your brain;
• review and reflect on your business practices;
• align your day-to-day business practices with your personal and political values;
• learn how to pursue your work with intentionality and care; and
• create a strategy for bringing your vision for your business to life.

Sign up for the retreat and dedicate some much-needed time to recalibrating your business practices with the guidance and support of your fellow professionals.

To prepare for this retreat, you’ll need:

• The 50-page First Retreat Workbook PDF (provided with webinar sign-up) or printed copy (available for purchase for CAD$28 plus shipping); and
• materials from your business for reference, such as invoices, lists of clients, calendars, and reports from time tracking systems.

Letitia Henville, PhD, (she/her) is a freelance academic editor at shortishard.ca and the advice columnist behind Ask Dr. Editor. She created The First Retreat Workbook because she needed a step-by-step process to follow for her own business retreat, and developed antihustle.ca as a resource hub for folks looking to align their business practices with their personal and political values.

Excel Tips for Self-Employed Editors
with Maya Berger

When: Saturday, January 28, 2023, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm PST
Where: Online via Zoom

When a client approaches you about a new editing job, wouldn’t it be great if you had a tool to help you:

• quote a fair rate and accurate time frame for the project;
• track whether you get paid on time;
• compare your estimated hourly rate and editing speed with your actual rate and speed; and
• analyze how valuable this client is to your business?

Wouldn’t it be greater if this tool was already on your computer and included in your Microsoft Office suite? And wouldn’t it be even greater if this tool didn’t intimidate and baffle you?

Whether you’re already spreadsheet savvy or you’ve never used Excel before, this seminar will show you how you can harness Excel’s functionality to manage your freelance editorial business confidently and professionally.

In this seminar, I will show you how to manage your income, expenses, and project data in Excel and take the guesswork out of running your business. It will cover:

• an introduction to Excel basics and terminology;
• how Excel can be used to track project income, editing speed, average rates, and more;
• your business data at a glance, with summaries and charts; and
• Excel troubleshooting tips.

No prior experience with Excel is necessary, but please ensure that you have Excel installed on your computer and that you have no pending updates for your version.

Each participant will receive an Excel workbook that we will work through together. Use of two screens is preferred: one to work on Excel with and the other to watch the presentation on.

Maya Berger (she/her) launched The Editor’s Affairs (TEA) in May 2020 to help fellow freelance editors manage their business affairs. She has presented on Excel and business data at recent Editors Canada, CIEP, ACES, and IPEd annual conferences as well as for SENSE, and she appeared as a guest on The Editing Podcast to speak about editing erotica. Maya edits and proofreads speculative fiction, erotica, and academic texts in the humanities and social sciences. After spending 13 years in the UK, Maya moved back to Canada in 2017 and currently lives in Toronto. She is a CIEP Advanced Professional Member.

Diving into Development: Introduction to the Developmental Editing of Fiction with Jennifer Lawler

When: Saturday, November 5, and Sunday, November 6, 2022, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm PT
Where: Online via Zoom

“Diving into Development” will discuss the basics of developmental editing and how it is performed by freelance editors. We’ll look at how to spot common developmental problems in fiction, using the fundamentals of storytelling (from a Western perspective) as the lens through which we evaluate fiction manuscripts.

The seminar will cover the following:

• how narrative drive is typically achieved through goal–motivation–conflict
• types of story structures/plots
• how to edit for character development
• the importance of genre in editing fiction

At the conclusion of the seminar, you will be able to identify the differences between developmental editing, copy editing, line editing, critique/evaluation, and coaching. You will understand the basic methods of developmental editing (writing effective editorial queries and thorough but not overwhelming revision letters). You will understand how to set expectations in a developmental edit, including differences in working with independent authors and publisher clients. You will also have a basic idea of how to find developmental editing clients.

Participants will need an Internet connection and access to Microsoft Word or Google Docs in order to read the provided supplemental materials (a sample edited manuscript and revision letter). No previous editorial experience is required, although it will be helpful.

Jennifer Lawler (she/her) is the founder of Club Ed (www.clubedfreelancers.com), an online education company for developmental editors. If you’re an aspiring, new, or established book editor or story coach, she can probably help you learn how to do the work better and more profitably. Through Club Ed, she offers developmental editing classes, a freelance editor support group, and a slightly bony shoulder to cry on.

Jennifer has worked as an editor for more than 20 years. She learned how to edit in the trenches of traditional publishing with its intense deadlines, pitiless competition, and crushing bureaucracy. To that she added a PhD in English literature with a specialization in medieval literature. Jennifer’s past editorial clients have included Simon & Schuster, Girl Friday Productions, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Barnes and Noble Custom Publishing, and others, along with many independent authors.

Editors BC Study Group: Stylistic Editing Facilitated by Iva Cheung

Are you thinking about writing this year’s Editors Canada stylistic editing certification exam in November? Whether you’re committed or undecided, join editing colleagues from across the province to work through the Editors Canada study materials in a confidential and supportive environment.

The Editors BC Stylistic Editing Study Group will meet every two weeks on Zoom to discuss the exercises, share knowledge and skills, provide accountability, and foster confidence to write the certification exam.

Iva Cheung will facilitate the sessions, but note that this study group is not a course, and the facilitator will not teach stylistic editing skills. It’s expected that participants have advanced knowledge of and extensive experience with the subject matter and can mentor one another as they work through the study materials. Editors BC cannot guarantee that participants will pass the exam.

Iva Cheung (she/her) (ivacheung.com) is a Certified Professional Editor, indexer, publishing consultant, and health communication researcher. She has won Editors Canada’s Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence, President’s Award for Volunteer Service, and Karen Virag Award for promoting the editing profession. She served on the Certification Steering Committee and Credential Maintenance Subcommittee, and has set and invigilated certification exams.

Past Seminars and Events 2021–2022

Editors BC Student Networking Event

When: Wednesday, May 4, 7:15—8:45 pm PDT
Where: Online via Zoom
Cost: Free

Editors Canada student affiliates are invited to a 90-minute online networking event on Wednesday, May 4, to meet other student affiliates, share your knowledge and successes, and learn from your peers.

This free virtual event is designed to help student affiliates to support one another in their business and editing practices.

Eight-Step Editing with Moira White

When: Saturday, April 23, and Saturday, April 30, 9:00 am to noon PDT
Where: Online via Zoom

Eight-Step Editing teaches an approach to editing that helps editors and writers alike. This lively, hands-on workshop takes highly honed skills that are second nature to professional editors and breaks them down into a sequence of eight actions that will improve and clarify the text. Everyone who has ever changed a sentence in an email or a report can benefit from this workshop, as can experienced editors wanting a quick, strategic approach to editing.

Each participant will receive a workbook full of explanations, exercises, and helpful references.

Moira White (she/her) is an Ottawa-based editor, writer, and trainer with decades of experience editing, writing, and teaching for government and corporate clients. She has taught briefing notes courses to many government departments, agencies, and corporations both in person and virtually using a variety of platforms. She has also given a series of webinars for editors.

Moira holds a master’s degree in social policy. She has managed on-site production of reports in Canada and Europe and has travelled across Canada with public consultations, writing, editing, and producing reports. Her specialties include synthesizing the work of multiple authors, writing to tight deadlines, and writing executive summaries.

She is an honorary life member and past president of Editors Canada.

Seminar Recording Notice

Editors BC will be recording these sessions using Zoom’s record feature. The data captured may include your image (including your name if it appears in your video image) and voice recordings. The Zoom recordings will be made available to registered seminar participants for a period of two weeks following the session. After that time, the recording will no longer be available to participants. If you have any questions or concerns about the recording, please contact Claire Majors at pd1@editorsbc.ca. Session participants are not permitted to make their own recordings, by any means, and are forbidden from distributing the recording they receive from the session.

Conscious and Inclusive Editing: Understanding Conscious Language and the Editorial Role with Crystal Shelley

When: Saturday, March 12, and Saturday, March 19, 2022, 10:00 am to 11:30 am PST/PDT
Where: Online via Zoom

Words have the power to do good: to uplift, to inspire, and to validate. Words also have the power to do harm: to hurt, to marginalize, and to erase. As editors, we can assess writing for biased or excluding language that can render the text ineffective or harmful to readers, and we can educate clients on how and why the language they choose matters. 

This workshop will help professional editors

• Know what inclusive language and conscious language are
• Identify potential issues in language, tone, and framing
• Recognize what questions to ask about the writing
• Understand the editorial role and why we should speak up
• Craft queries and feedback to clients
• Handle client resistance
• Learn what resources exist that discuss language issues

Crystal Shelley (she/her) is a licensed clinical social worker and the owner of Rabbit with a Red Pen, where she provides editing and authenticity reading services to fiction authors. She unites her love of language and her passion for social justice by advocating conscious language use and inclusive representation in her editorial work. She is the creator of the Conscious Language Toolkits for Editors and Writers and serves on the Executive Committee of ACES: The Society for Editing.

Taxes for Freelancers with Sunny Widerman

When: February 19, 2022, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm PST
Where: Online via Zoom

As shifts in job culture and available technologies change the reality of work, more and more Canadians are dipping into the worlds of self-employment, consulting, and freelancing. This is an amazing time for the entrepreneurial spirit.

Starting a new endeavour can be just as challenging as it is thrilling, so it's important to understand the nuts and bolts of being in business. Taxes are a huge part of that understanding.

This seminar, presented by Sunny Widerman of Personal Tax Advisors, is an entertaining and information-packed presentation about the financial and tax aspects of running your own business.

Sunny’s specialty is in giving a friendly, approachable introduction to what you need to know to get you started as a freelancer or consultant. Hundreds of participants in dozens of Sunny’s past workshops can attest that you won’t be intimidated by the material, and you definitely won’t be bored!

In this seminar you’ll learn about GST, deductible expenses, and setting aside money for tax payments. Take the opportunity to ask all your lingering tax questions during the Q & A from an expert who has been working in taxes for two decades. 

Sunny Widerman (she/her) has been a tax preparer and advisor since 2002, with a growing clientele of freelancers, business owners, and professionals. Through her firm, Personal Tax Advisors, Sunny specializes in helping clients take control of their tax planning by explaining the tax issues that affect them. She focuses on a gentle, non-threatening approach to financial issues and clear, jargon-free language.

Questions to Ask a Poem: The Basics of Poetry Editing with Ruth Daniell

When: Wednesday, January 26, and Thursday, January 27, 2022, 7:30–9:00 pm PST
Where: Online via Zoom

In this workshop, you will learn the basics of editing poetry, focusing on the relationship between form and content and on the ways that you can support poets to bolster the unique strengths of their work. You’ll gain strategies for discussing memoir-based poetry so that the emphasis remains on craft while still effectively interrogating its narrative elements, as well as strategies for work that strays outside of the realm of contemporary lyric poetry. You will be given four key questions to ask any poem to help you investigate its purpose and its execution. 

This workshop will ask you to engage in both the playfulness of poetry and its ability to perform serious investigations, as well as to revel in the specificity of language. Ultimately, this workshop will look at what an individual poem is trying to do, whether it’s doing this successfully, why or why not, and how you can support the poet in achieving their goals for the poem.

The workshop will cover the following topics:

• Line breaks and the use of lines as discrete units of meaning
• What a title can (and can’t) do for a poem
• The balance of abstract and concrete language and the value of imagery
• The anatomy of metaphor and how to identify and tackle clichés 
• The nuances of poetry on the page versus onstage
• How to read for sound
• The four questions to ask a poem
• Intentional pacing
• Shaping the intellectual and emotional shifts within individual poems and throughout a manuscript

Ruth Daniell (she/her) is a freelance editor, speech arts teacher, writer, and the author of The Brightest Thing (Caitlin Press, 2019). Recent work appears in Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House Press, 2020) and Resistance: Righteous Rage in the Age of #MeToo (University of Regina Press, 2021). She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English literature and writing from the University of Victoria and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. She lives in Kelowna, BC.

Copyright for Editors with Ann Carlsen

When: Saturday, October 30, Saturday, November 6, and Saturday, November 13, 2021, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm PDT
Where: Online via Zoom

As editors, we need to be aware of copyright issues related to the works we are editing. To learn more about copyright in Canada as it relates to writers and editors, join us for this online seminar.

This six-hour seminar will help you figure out where a copyright issue may exist so that it can be addressed. The seminar will also review the various forms of permissions and when permissions are required. There will be ample opportunity to ask questions.

Seminar topics include:

• Creation, ownership, and registration of copyright
• Moral rights
• Infringement of copyright and moral rights
• Remedies for infringement
• Seeking and obtaining permissions

Ann Carlsen has been practicing law in Canada since 1991 and specializing in intellectual property law since 1993. She has been a lecturer for Simon Fraser University Writer’s Studio, giving the lecture on copyright and personality rights for writers. She has given presentations on copyright at the Editors Canada National Conference and for Langara College’s editorial program, the Vancouver Camera Club, the Burnaby Quilters Guild, and the BC Museum Association. She contributed the chapter on Canadian intellectual property law for the publication International Protection of Intellectual Property, published by the Center for International Legal Studies and FT Law & Tax. Ann is also a fellow of the Canadian Intellectual Property Institute of Canada and an editor of the Canadian Intellectual Property Review.

Editors BC Study Groups: Structural Editing with Robyn So & Proofreading with Roma Ilnyckyj

When:
Structural editing: every second Tuesday, July 20 to November 9, 7:30 to 9:00 pm
Proofreading: every second Thursday, July 29 to November 18, 7:30 to 9:00 pm

Where:
Online via Zoom

Optional donation:
$50

Are you thinking about writing either of this year’s Editors Canada certification exams in November? Whether you’re committed or undecided, join editing colleagues from across the province to work through the Editors Canada study materials in a confidential and supportive environment. 

The Editors BC Study Groups will meet biweekly on Zoom to discuss the exercises, share knowledge and skills, provide accountability, and foster confidence to write the certification exam.

Robyn So will facilitate the structural editing sessions and Roma Ilnyckyj, the proofreading sessions. Note that these study groups are not courses and the facilitators will not teach these skills. It’s expected that participants have advanced knowledge of and extensive experience with the subject matter and can mentor one another as they work through the study materials. Editors BC cannot guarantee that participants will pass the exam.

You are welcome to join one or both groups if:

• You are an Editors Canada member.
• You are planning to write the Editors Canada structural editing or proofreading exam in November, or you are interested in working through Meeting Professional Editorial Standards for structural editing or for proofreading to assess whether you are ready to write the exam.
• You have extensive experience with structural editing or proofreading.
• You can commit to participating in all nine sessions.
• You can commit to doing the exercises and readings according to the schedule.
• You are comfortable using Zoom and Google Drive, or you are willing to learn to use these platforms.

To participate, you will need the following:

• Professional Editorial Standards (2016)—download for free from Editors Canada.
• Structural Editing: Meeting Professional Editorial Standards 2nd ed. or Proofreading: Meeting Professional Editorial Standards 2nd ed. (2011)—purchase online from Editors Canada (see: https://www.editors.ca/publications/meeting-professional-editorial-standards). 
• Structural Editing Test Preparation Guide or Proofreading Test Preparation Guide (the certification practice exam)—purchase online from Editors Canada (see: https://www.editors.ca/publications/certification-test-preparation-guides).
• A high-speed Internet connection.
• Basic reference books and style manuals that you will use for the exam.

Roma Ilnyckyj is a Vancouver-based Certified Professional Editor. She works at CPA Canada, where she edits educational content.

Robyn So is a Certified Structural Editor and Certified Stylistic Editor with a freelance business, So Professional Editorial Services. She edits non-fiction, fiction, and academic books for a variety of publishers.

Freelance 201: Start Thriving with Laura Poole

When: Saturday, October 16, 2021, 9 am to noon PDT
Where: Online via Zoom

In this workshop, you’ll learn key tips to go beyond “do work, get paid” for your freelance business. Learn how to be bold and embrace being the boss. Stop working at the mercy of your clients and start being in charge of your business! We will look at overall life goals and how your business choices can help make them happen. We will specifically cover:

• setting and raising rates with confidence
• using business retreats and masterminds as tools for growth
• adding services and subcontractors
• saying “no” strategically
• choosing what you work on
• setting and protecting boundaries
• creating new opportunities for yourself
• conducting confident networking and communications

If you’re ready to grow, please join us!

Laura Poole (she/her) has been freelancing as a nonfiction copyeditor since 1997. She specializes in scholarly copyediting in the humanities. She loves training and coaching editors in their career and business paths. She won the Robinson Prize from ACES in 2020.

Fiction Editing Weekend Intensive with Caroline Adderson

When: Saturday, September 25, and Sunday, September 26, 2021, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Where: Online via Zoom

Behind every great novelist and short story writer, there is a great editor. In this six-hour course, author and writing teacher Caroline Adderson will share techniques to help editors bring out the greatness in their writers, from dazzling openings to moving endings and the whole story in between. Participants will practise these techniques in class (manuscripts provided). Adderson will also offer advice on the all-important writer–editor relationship.

At the end of the workshop, students will be able to:

• Communicate more effectively with their fiction writers
• Ask questions that will help their writers see their manuscripts freshly
• Know the four basic editing tasks: cut, add, strengthen, and polish
• Know what makes a good beginning
• Understand the relationship between character and plot
• Make suggestions to strengthen characterization
• Know the four types of prose used in fiction and their implications
• Recognize and improve problem scenes
• Improve dialogue
• Understand the Fichtean Curve in plotting
• Recognize plot problems
• Know what makes a good ending
• Recognize ineffective endings
• Offer tips to polish a final draft

Workshop outline:

• Introductions
• Techniques to build trust and rapport with your writer
• The four basic editing tasks: cut, add, strengthen, and polish
• Beginnings: fulfilling expectations
• More believable characters
• Characters make plot
• Plot issues
• Scenes vs. narrative summary
• Strengthening scenes
• Resonant endings
• Polishing tips

This course will be conducted online, through Zoom, in two three-hour sessions.

Caroline Adderson is the author of five novels (A History of Forgetting, Sitting Practice, The Sky is Falling, Ellen in Pieces, A Russian Sister), two collections of short stories (Bad Imaginings, Pleased to Meet You), as well as many books for young readers. She is also co-contributor to and editor of Vancouver Vanishes: Narratives of Demolition and Revival, and guest editor of Best Canadian Stories 2019. Her work has received numerous award nominations including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Governor General’s Literary Award, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. Her awards include three BC Book Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards, the Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement, and a National Magazine Award Gold Medal for Fiction. She teaches in the Writing and Publishing Program at SFU and is the Program Director of the Writing Studio at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

www.carolineadderson.com | www.carolineaddersonkids.com

Past Seminars 2020–2021

 May 26, 2021—Meet Your Future Self: Student-Focused Group Networking Event

Do you want to meet experienced editors whose work and lived experience can inform your career trajectory? Do you have questions about working freelance or in-house, in fiction or non-fiction, or in print or digital mediums? Not sure what training or conferences you should participate in? Want to hear from experienced professionals with diverse work and lived experiences? Come to “Meet your future self”!

In this networking event, small groups of student editors will be matched with experienced editors for 20-minute conversations about work and life as an editor. We’ll also have time for virtual mingling and networking among BC’s student editor community. 

This event is free and open to all student editors registered in the BC Branch of Editors Canada. 

Registration opens April 28, 2021.

Save the date: Wednesday, May 26, 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm PDT

If you are an experienced editor who is interested in volunteering at this event, please complete our expression of interest form at: https://forms.gle/fB42PS9h1S2ba4HFA.

The application deadline for experienced editors is Wednesday, April 21, at 11:59 pm.

April 24, May 1, May 8, and May 15—Grammar Boot Camp, with Frances Peck

Want to flex your grammar (and punctuation and usage) muscles? This intensive seminar will put you through the paces. Focusing on high-level errors—the ones that make it past editors and proofreaders and into print—this session will help you identify and fix the most puzzling mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and usage. We’ll look at errors from a range of publications, discuss up-to-date approaches to eliminating them, and run through a series of challenging editing exercises. Feel free to bring in any difficult examples you’ve encountered on the job.

Frances Peck, CPE (Hon.), has been working with words for 30 years. She has taught for the University of Ottawa, Douglas College, Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and dozens of organizations across Canada. She prepared the Canadian edition of The St. Martin’s Workbook, a university grammar exercise book; co-authored the popular HyperGrammar website; and wrote Peck’s English Pointers, a free collection of articles and quizzes available on the Language Portal of Canada. Frances lives in North Vancouver and is an affiliate with West Coast Editorial Associates.

March 6–31 and April 8, 2021—Document Readability Design and Layout for Editors, with Flora Gordon

Understanding the fundamental rules of design not only enhances your editorial skills, it also makes you a more effective partner in the design process. Graphic designer Flora Gordon will share design tips that improve the readability of documents to meet the needs of readers. Participants will explore typography, spacing, and other design tactics for making text-heavy documents more appealing to readers. Using a combination of short lectures and a friendly and constructive live critique with demonstrations, this workshop will increase participants’ understanding and knowledge of design principles.

This webinar is for editors and communication professionals who are not designers but want to learn more about design. No design experience is necessary, but participants should have a working knowledge of MS Word.

Format

Parts 1 to 3: Three 30-minute pre-recorded lectures and demonstrations to watch between March 6 and 31, 2021. Participants will then complete and email assignments to Flora Gordon in advance of Part 4.

Part 4: On April 8, 2021, we’ll hold a live 90-minute session on Zoom with Flora Gordon. She will look at assignments to offer suggestions and critiques and will give demonstrations. There will be lots of opportunity for questions and discussion.

Flora Gordon is a professionally certified graphic designer with over 12 years of professional experience designing for the public sector. She has also worked in magazine and technical publishing. Flora created the course Plain Graphics and Design for Simon Fraser University (SFU), and she facilitates other courses in the Editing and Technical Publishing certificate programs at SFU. Flora has presented at the Editors Canada conferences in 2016 and 2018.

February 9, 16, 23, and March 2, 2021—Marketing, Networking, and Building Your Client Base, with Heidi Turner

As a freelancer, your network is one of the most valuable tools in your marketing toolkit. Many of your jobs and potential clients will come via referrals from people you know, both personally and professionally. But how do you grow your network? How do you reach out to let people know you're looking for clients without feeling awkward about it? How do you market your business effectively while still taking on client projects? 

This workshop is designed to give you tools to effectively grow your network and to use your network to build your client base. 

In these workshops we will explore how to:

• Talk to others about what you do
• Develop a networking plan
• Approach your contacts to let them know you're available for work
• Use social media to market yourself
• Communicate with potential clients
• Write letters of introduction
• Build an effective LinkedIn profile
• Grow your network
• Identify people who can introduce you to the people you want to work with
• Develop connections with your target clients
• Network as an introvert (yes, it’s possible to do!)

Heidi Turner has been a freelance writer and editor since 2006. She specializes in writing and editing for clients in the legal, medical technology, and financial industries. Heidi is also an instructor in Simon Fraser University’s Editing Certificate program. She is passionate about helping other freelancers build their ideal career, and she runs the Vancouver Writing Jobs blog, a free job board that lists writing and editing jobs and contracts in the Vancouver area.

January 12, 19, 26, and February 2, 2021—Breaking into Instructional Design: A Course for Editors Seeking New Opportunities and Challenges, with Liz Warwick

In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore how editors can use their skills to move into the world of instructional design, a field that is growing rapidly as demand for online courses increases. Instructional designers focus on helping people learn effectively. They work with  schools, universities, businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations to design and create a wide range of learning and training materials. An instructional designer may structure, write, or edit content for an online course; create a storyboard for a training module; create a job aid to help someone perform a specific task; and much, much more. 

This workshop will include short presentations, readings, and discussions and lots of opportunities to practise skills through in-class exercises and at-home assignments. 

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Describe the role of an instructional designer, including the range of activities and tasks instructional designers might be asked to carry out
• Specify the essential skills and knowledge instructional designers need, including how to analyze audience needs, create learning objectives, identify learning strategies, and build educational content
• Explore how editors and writers may already have these essential skills, and discuss how to demonstrate this to clients
• Create and evaluate prototype instructional materials, including learning objectives, part of a needs analysis, a high-level course design plan, and a simple storyboard
• Identify different pathways for finding instructional design work and acquiring additional skills in the field

Liz Warwick is an editor and writer who returned to Concordia University mid-career to complete a master’s degree in educational technology. Since then, she has divided her work life between instructional design and editing. This year, she is helping an Ontario university bring their courses online, managing several instructional design projects for a Vancouver-based training company, editing a romantic fiction trilogy and a book on changing careers, and serving as branch chair for Editors BC. 

October 13, 20, 27, and November 3, 2020—Introduction to Children’s Book Editing, with Paula Ayer

Children’s books are a resilient and growing part of the publishing industry, ranging from simple board books for babies and toddlers to complex and sophisticated fiction and non-fiction books for older children and teens. But how do you develop the skills needed to work as a children’s book editor? And how is editing for children different from editing for adults? This online workshop will address the basics of children’s publishing, how to get work as a children’s book editor, the different genres within children’s publishing, and special considerations when editing for each age group. Over four 90-minute sessions, we will cover:

• The children’s publishing landscape in Canada, including the different genres and formats within children’s publishing
• Editing picture books
• Editing chapter books and fiction for middle-grade readers
• Editing children’s non-fiction

Each session will include tips for building your experience and finding work as a children’s editor. Editors do not need any previous experience in publishing to attend this workshop. Each online session will include a short assignment or reading, with time for discussion and questions.

Paula Ayer is an editor at Greystone Books and previously worked for Annick Press, where she edited, developed, wrote, translated, and art directed a variety of children’s books, specializing in non-fiction for middle-grade readers and teens. She has authored or co-authored three award-winning children’s non-fiction books as well as a picture book.

September 3 to November 12, 2020—Stylistic Editing Study Group, facilitated by Roma Ilnyckyj

The Editors BC Stylistic Editing Study Group is a virtual study group that provides a structured schedule, group discussion of exercises, and accountability in preparation for the November 21, 2020, Stylistic Editing Certification Exam. Meet with your colleagues from across the province to prepare, review, and share your experiences in a confidential and supportive environment. 

Roma Ilnyckyj will facilitate the sessions, but this study group is not a course, and the facilitator will not teach stylistic editing. Participants are expected to have advanced knowledge of stylistic editing and extensive stylistic editing experience. Editors BC cannot guarantee that participants will pass the exam.

You are welcome to join if:

• You are an Editors Canada member.
• You are planning to write the stylistic editing exam in November or you are interested in working through Meeting Professional Editorial Standards (MPES) for stylistic editing to assess whether you are ready to write the exam.
• You have extensive experience with stylistic editing and editing in general; this is not a group for beginning editors.
• You can commit to participating in all 11 sessions.
• You can commit to completing exercises and readings according to the schedule.
• You are comfortable using Google Docs (or some other sharing platform).

To participate, you will need:

• A copy of MPES for stylistic editing.
• A copy of the certification test preparation guide for stylistic editing (participants cannot share this document; you must purchase your own).
• A high-speed internet connection.
• The basic reference books that you’ll be using for the exam.

Roma Ilnyckyj is a Vancouver-based Certified Professional Editor. She works at CPA Canada, where she edits educational content.

Past Seminars 2019–2020

Saturday, February 29, 2020—Usage Woes and Myths, with Frances Peck 

You’ve sorted out imply and infer. You know it’s not all right to use alright. Hopefully, you accept impact as a verb (not to mention hopefully as a sentence adverb). But what about more troublesome usage points, like the difference between may and might? Or such commonly misused words as dilemma and fulsome? Do you always have to change though to although, till to until? For anyone intent on preventing (not avoiding) word errors and avoiding (not preventing) usage myths, this seminar will help. We’ll take an up-to-date look at some of the most misunderstood and contentious points of English usage and identify helpful guides and other resources. Bring your top usage questions to share with the group.

Frances Peck, CPE (Hon.), has been working with words for nearly 30 years. She has taught for the University of Ottawa, Douglas College, Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and dozens of organizations across Canada. She prepared the Canadian edition of The St. Martin’s Workbook, a university grammar exercise book; co-authored the popular HyperGrammar website; and wrote Peck’s English Pointers, a free collection of articles and quizzes available on the Language Portal of Canada. Frances lives in North Vancouver and is a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates.

Saturday, November 30, 2019—Do the Work You Want (and Earn More Doing It): A Guided Strategic Retreat for Editors, with Lana Okerlund

As an editor, are you doing the work you want (or do you know what that is)? Are you satisfied with what you earn? Are you working as much, or as little, as you wish? Are you keeping up with professional standards and work practices? Do you ever have the time to properly think about these questions, let alone figure out what to do so you can say “yes!” to them?

This six-hour workshop is designed as a guided strategic retreat to help you envision your ideal editing career, understand your current situation, and develop a plan to close the gap. Through stimulating discussion and hands-on activities, you will

• Establish a strategic vision for your editing business or career
• Set objectives for the clients you want to work with, the projects you want to do, the amount you want to earn, and the work practices and professional development you want to invest in
• Figure out how to gauge your progress toward your objectives
• Learn how to analyze information about your business or career so you can adjust or develop new strategies to meet your goals

Whether you’re an experienced editor or new to the editing world, you will come away from the workshop with a draft strategy for taking charge of your business or career so you can steer it in the direction that you want it to go.

Freelance editors will find this workshop most useful, though in-house editors can also benefit from thinking about career goals in a more strategic way.

A partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, Lana Okerlund edits, indexes, and writes non-fiction books and teaches editing and business writing courses. For this workshop, Lana draws on her experience as a freelance editor and as a former business consultant, when she spent nearly a decade working with clients on strategic visioning, business planning, performance measurement, and other business improvement projects. She has found tremendous value in applying these business concepts while building her own editing career.

Saturday, October 26—Plain Language from Start to Finish, with Iva Cheung

Being able to convey information clearly and succinctly is an essential skill for editors, especially those who work on documents for the public. In legal, medical, and emergency situations, having clear communication may be a matter of life or death.

This interactive seminar will give you tools to create a document in plain language, with exercises and activities to practise what you’ve learned. We’ll explore plain language as a process that entails:

• audience analysis,
• ethical considerations,
• language considerations,
• design considerations, and
• user testing.

Iva Cheung is a Certified Professional Editor and has won the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence, the President’s Award for Volunteer Service, and the Karen Virag Award. She holds a Master of Publishing degree and a PhD in health sciences, and she teaches the Plain Language in Health Literacy course in Simon Fraser University’s Plain Language Certificate program.

Past Seminars 2018–2019

Saturday, April 27—Editing Cake and Proofreading Compote: A Recipe for Successful Cookbook Editing, with Lana Okerlund

Serves: A room full of editors
Time: 6 hours

Cookbook editing can be a satisfying niche with a feast of opportunities. Calling for equal amounts of editing skill and culinary knowledge, the recipe for successful cookbook editing can be mastered by those willing to put in a little time in the editing kitchen.

Editing cake
1 cup core editing skills
1 cup cooking ability
¾ cup grasp of cookbook structural issues
¾ cup grasp of cookbook copy editing issues

Proofreading compote
1 cup advanced proofreading skills
¾ cup eye for design details
½ cup patience

It takes skill and practice to combine these ingredients and recognize the editing and proofreading issues unique to the cookbook genre. So here’s a tip! Take a six-hour workshop where, through discussion and activities, you will learn:

• cookbook and recipe conventions and usability principles
• the various ways that cookbooks and individual recipes are structured and how to recognize and tackle special structural editing concerns
• how to copy edit cookbook elements like ingredient lists, methods, yields, time guidelines, and measurements and conversions for clarity, accuracy, consistency, and usability, all while respecting the author’s voice and style
• how to recognize a cookbook’s numerous design elements and take an organized approach to proofreading both visual and textual material
• where to find freelance opportunities in the cookbook- or recipe-publishing market

This workshop is meant for editors who already have editing and proofreading experience and want to explore a cookbook specialization, though editors at all career stages are welcome.

A partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, Lana Okerlund has copy edited, proofread, or indexed dozens of cookbooks for Penguin Random House Canada, Figure 1 Publishing, TouchWood Editions, and Whitecap Books.

Saturday, March 30—Advanced Proofreading, with Ruth Wilson

Are you ready to extend your proofreading skills beyond finding typos and knowing how to mark up copy? This exercise-based workshop focuses on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills. It offers participants the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and learn how to fine-tune their proofreading eye to catch every error. With documents ranging from recipes to journal articles, participants will be challenged to use their judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all.

This workshop will help anyone wishing to advance their proofreading skills, prepare for job advancement, or study for future offerings of the proofreading certification test offered by Editors Canada. Participants should have some proofreading experience and be familiar with conventional markup. Course material will be supplied, but participants should bring a current dictionary, pencils and pens, a calculator, and a ruler or other measure that they now use on the job.

Note: Participants should be prepared to spend considerable time practising the principles taught by proofreading several document excerpts. This workshop, back by popular demand, is a repeat from 2014 and 2016. It has had some updates, but it is intended for participants who have not previously attended.

Ruth Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience editing and proofreading trade books, professional journals, association publications, and corporate materials. She worked for a number of years with Vancouver book publisher Self-Counsel Press, many as Managing Editor. Since 1998, she has been a partner in West Coast Editorial Associates.

Ruth leads training workshops in all aspects of editing, and for many years was an instructor in the Writing and Communications Program and the Summer Publishing Workshops at Simon Fraser University. She has served on several national committees of Editors Canada. In 2011 she was honoured by Editors Canada as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service, and in 2014 she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Hon) for the work she did in developing and launching the association’s world-class certification program.

Saturday, February 23—Getting the Message Across: Clear Writing Tips, with Frances Peck

Reports, policies, briefings, emails, and other informational documents have a simple goal: to deliver a message quickly and clearly to a target audience. But too often that message gets buried by weak organization, unnecessary detail, abstract language, unhelpful layout, and other barriers to readability. This workshop will show you how to create and edit documents that meet readers’ needs and get the message across every time.

Frances Peck, a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, is a writer and Certified Professional Editor (Hon.) who specializes in editing and rewriting for clarity. She has taught for the University of Ottawa, Douglas College, SFU, UBC, Editors Canada, and many public and private sector organizations. Frances wrote Peck’s English Pointers, a free collection of articles and quizzes available on the Language Portal of Canada, and is a co-author of the HyperGrammar website. 

Saturday, January 26—Writing and Editing Childhood Memoirs, with Carolyn Redl

Has anyone ever told you, “You’ve had a very interesting childhood. You should write a book”? Or have you been asked to edit a memoir, but you don’t know where to begin? If so, the Editors BC January seminar is right for you. This six-hour seminar provides an introduction to memoir writing and editing. Throughout the day, you’ll complete exercises that will make your own childhood experiences come alive. You’ll explore ways to organize events into stories using description and dialogue. You’ll hear editing hints for developing themes, settings, and personalities associated with childhood. By the end of the day, you’ll have written a draft chapter of your memoir!

For over thirty years, Carolyn Redl has taught workshops on memoir writing for colleges, universities, and various organizations. She lives in Victoria and is the author of travel articles, short stories, and her own memoir, A Canadian Childhood.

Saturday, October 27, 2018—Skilful Structural Editing

Many editors are intimidated when they are asked to do a structural edit. Unlike other stages of editing, structural editing has fewer “rules,” and there is never just one way to solve structural problems. Structural editors are called upon to clarify, reorganize, and even rewrite. Negotiation with the author is also often part of the job. This one-day workshop will deepen your existing skills by examining a sure-fire approach and process. You will learn how to break down structural editing into manageable tasks and resolve imbalance in content and ensure the manuscript is appropriate for the intended audience.  

Ruth Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience editing trade books, professional journals, association publications, and corporate materials at all levels. She first honed her structural editing skills when she worked at Vancouver book publisher Self-Counsel Press, and since then she has shared what she has learned, having taught Substantive Editing in SFU’s Writing and Communications Program for 15 years, along with other skills-based courses. Ruth is a partner in West Coast Editorial Associates and she has served on several national committees of Editors Canada. In 2011 she was honoured by Editors Canada as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service, and in 2014 she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Hon) for the work she did in developing and launching Editors Canada’s world-class certification program.

Saturday, September 29, 2018—Tax and Finance for Freelancers

So you’re a freelancer. What do you need to know to keep track of finances and file your taxes? This six-hour seminar provides an introduction to basic tax and finance issues for freelancers, including GST/HST registration, bookkeeping and record retention, and building financial stability without a salary. The day will be a mix of conversational learning and hands-on training, using a variety of helpful tools and apps to keep your finances on track. For editors new to freelancing, this workshop covers the basic essentials; veteran freelancers will learn some tips and tricks, have their questions answered, and clarify the details.

Jessica Somers is a chartered professional accountant (CPA, CGA) with over ten years of experience advising freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses in Vancouver on tax, accounting, and business process. She is the founder of Cordova Street Consulting, a new firm in Gastown with a focus on knowledge sharing, outreach, and taking the stress and mystery out of tax. Jessica is also a facilitator and session leader at the CPA Western School of Business, where she teaches the next generation of Vancouver accountants and tax advisors.

Past Seminars 2017–2018

Saturday, April 28, 2018—Eight-Step Editing

Eight-Step Editing teaches an approach to editing that helps writers and editors alike. Everyone who has ever clarified a sentence in an email, a report, or another written work can benefit from this workshop. This newly updated workshop breaks down the task of editing into a sequence of actions to improve and clarify text while retaining the author’s voice. Participants will receive a workbook with exercises and further explanations of the eight steps. 

Moira White is a versatile communicator with decades of experience in plain language editing, writing, and teaching for government and corporate clients. She teaches a number of highly acclaimed writing and editing courses in Ottawa and across Canada; last year she taught close to 1,000 students. Moira holds a master’s degree in social policy. She has extensive experience editing texts to produce clear, concise documents and helping clients find appropriate means of disseminating information. Moira is a past president and long-time member of Editors Canada. She has also been a member of Plain Language International (PLAIN) for many years.

Saturday, March 24, 2018—Editorial Design Basics

Good design is so much more than just placing words on a page—it uses subtle visual cues to reinforce and expand on the sense and meaning of writing. Do you wish you had a better understanding of how text, images, and space complement each other? Do you want to know what you, as an editor, can do to make the design process run more smoothly, for clients and colleagues alike? In this interactive six-hour introduction to the basic principles and practices of effective editorial design, instructor Peter Cocking will share practical knowledge and tips to help you better serve your clients and work more productively with other publishing professionals. This workshop is geared toward editors of all experience levels who would like to improve their knowledge of design fundamentals. 

Peter Cocking is a noted designer and design educator. He’s the creative director of Page Two Strategies and the former art director of D&M Publishers, the publishers of Douglas & McIntyre and Greystone Books. Peter is an adjunct professor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and received the Ian Wallace Award for Teaching Excellence from Emily Carr in 2013. In addition, he teaches in Simon Fraser University’s Master of Publishing program. One of Canada’s most celebrated book designers, Peter has received more than 50 awards for his work and has lectured throughout Canada and the United States.

Saturday, February 24, 2018—Crunching the Numbers: Using Performance Measures to Manage Your Editing Business

Is your editing business successful? If you’re like a lot of editors, you may have a hard time answering this question with any specifics. You may have a vague sense of how your business is doing, and you might even feel comfortable with that level of uncertainty. But having real, hard data about how much you work, where your work comes from, and how much you earn for different types of projects or clients can empower you to take charge of your business and steer it in the direction that you want it to go. In this six-hour workshop, Lana Okerlund will give an overview of the performance measurement cycle—a widely used concept in the business world—and apply it to the business of editing. New and mid-career editors will find this workshop most useful, though editors of all experience levels are welcome. 

A partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, Lana Okerlund edits, indexes, and writes non-fiction books and teaches editing and business writing courses. In her former career as a business consultant, Lana spent nearly a decade working with clients on business improvement projects, including performance measurement.

January 27, 2018—From Slush Pile to Newsstand: Workshopping the Magazine Workflow

Magazine production is deadline heavy, with tight turnarounds and last-minute changes. To stay on schedule, many contributors and editors need to work in sync, like the parts of a well-oiled machine. In this six-hour seminar, Jennifer Landels, managing editor of Pulp Literature magazine, will walk us through the typical workflow of a literary magazine, from submissions to final proofing. We’ll begin with an overview of the production workflow and then examine each of the editorial stages in terms of roles, responsibilities, and timelines, with an emphasis on the use of cloud-based technology to facilitate communication and streamline workflow. At each stage, participants will get hands-on experience editing, managing, and proofing using online applications for collaborative editing. Participants should be comfortable working on a computer, but no specific technical experience is required. 

Jennifer Landels is a founding editor of Pulp Literature Press. As managing editor, she has a finger in all the production line pots that need stirring. Prior to starting the press, she worked as a freelance editor, writer, and designer.

November 25, 2017—Academic Editing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Designed to promote a better understanding of what’s at stake for academic authors and how editors can help them achieve their goals, this workshop is open to editors and writers at all stages of their careers. Through lectures, discussions, exercises, and real-life examples, participants will learn how to meet editorial standards for clarity, consistency, and correctness while still respecting academic authors and the writing conventions of their disciplines. During this six-hour workshop, we will discuss the following topics: understanding scholarly publishing and academic authors; assessing manuscripts and agreeing on the scope of work; editing text with academic audiences in mind; editing references, tables, charts, and photos; and helping scholars write for general readers. 

Lesley Erickson has more than 20 years’ experience as an author and editor in scholarly publishing. She has worked as a freelance copywriter, substantive editor, stylistic editor, copy editor, and proofreader for individual clients and university presses, and she is currently a senior editor in the Production Editorial department at UBC Press. As a production editor, she focuses on books in history and Indigenous studies. As a substantive editor, she edits trade and trade-crossover titles and is passionate about helping academic authors make their research more accessible to the general public through well-edited, jargon-free prose. She holds a PhD in Canadian history and is a graduate of SFU’s Master of Publishing program. She is the author of Westward Bound: Sex, Violence, the Law, and the Making of a Settler Society and co-editor of Unsettled Pasts: Reconceiving the West through Women’s History.

October 27, 2017—Inclusive Style Guides

Co-presented by Editors BC and the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia

Writers, editors, and publishers share a responsibility to be mindful of terminology and inclusive language in their publications, particularly in light of recent discussions of cultural appropriation in media and literature. And with the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style published this fall, this is an opportune time for editors to think through these issues when considering updates to their house style guides. This professional development event, split into two three-hour sessions, will encourage participants to think through and navigate the complexities of inclusive language in the context of stylistic editing decisions. Participants may register for one or both sessions, which are geared toward in-house and freelance editors and publishing professionals at all experience levels.

Elements of Indigenous Style. The morning session will examine the topic of inclusive style guides through the lens of language guidelines around Indigenous peoples. Gregory Younging will take participants through his forthcoming book, Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples, which offers guidance on producing material that employs Indigenous-based editorial practices and concerns and that reflects Indigenous peoples and their voices in an appropriate and respectful manner.

Gregory Younging is a member of Opaskwayak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba. He has a Master of Arts degree from the Institute of Canadian Studies at Carleton University, a Master of Publishing degree from the Canadian Centre for Studies in Writing and Publishing at Simon Fraser University, and a PhD from the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. From 1990 to 2004, Gregory was the managing editor of Theytus Books. He is the former assistant director of research for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and is currently on faculty with the Indigenous Studies Program at University of British Columbia Okanagan.

The Evolving Style Guide: A Practical Approach. Editors need to be at the forefront of language change, but how do we keep up with it all? Even if we think we understand what the current standards of language are, do we have the skills to point our clients in the direction that is best for their publications? Can we defend the need for inclusive, mindful language? Do we know how to champion for change for an organization’s style guide? Through group discussion and short activities, participants will explore these questions and work through a process to promote inclusivity when developing or revising style guides and style sheets. Respectful and preferred language for various personal attributes will be discussed, including race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and age.

Ruth Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience as an editor. She began her career with Vancouver-based book publisher Self-Counsel Press, a leader in the promotion of inclusive language from its inception. Since 1998 Ruth has been a partner in West Coast Editorial Associates, offering a wide range of editorial and training services. She has developed and revised several style guides and style sheets over the years for a variety of clients with diverse sensitivities. In 2011 Ruth was honoured as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service from Editors Canada, and in 2014 she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Honorary) for the work she did in developing and launching the association’s world-class certification program.

September 30, 2017—SEO for Editors

Search engine optimization, or SEO, encompasses a wide variety of tactics designed to improve a site’s ranking in search results. Ensuring that web content ranks highly in a Google search is one of the best ways for website owners to drive traffic and potential customers to their sites. Web editors can play an instrumental role in optimizing content for better search rankings, both on their own sites and on clients’ sites. In this workshop, you’ll learn how search works and gain an overview of the fundamentals of SEO. These include the evolution of SEO, critical ranking factors that determine where your content is listed on a search results page, how to conduct an SEO audit of your site, how to research and implement keywords in your copy, additional strategies for optimizing your site’s content, and the role of online marketing in boosting rankings and visibility. You should be comfortable working on a computer and surfing the web, but you don’t need any additional technical experience.

Lisa Manfield is a writer, editor, and content strategist who currently serves as the marketing manager for Mugo Web. Formerly the founding editor of BCLiving.ca, she has also been a contributing editor at Backbone magazine and marketing manager at TheTyee.ca. She has developed print and web content, marketing collateral, and courseware for tech companies, small businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions. She teaches Writing and Editing for the Web at Simon Fraser University.

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May 27, 2017—Literary Architecture: Structurally Editing Fiction

Sometimes we imagine that fiction arrives at the publisher in a near-perfect form, ready for publishing. In fact, fiction undergoes as rigorous an edit as nonfiction, and is often signed more for its potential than for its readiness. Respecting the originality of the author’s voice and work while serving all parties with a sensitive critique is a delicate balance. This six-hour seminar on substantively editing literary fiction will look past the mystique and empower you to make the necessary edits with confidence. This seminar will cover fiction’s special considerations, the eight specific components of fiction, and questions to ask for a comprehensive, respectful, and considered job as the book’s first reader. This seminar is appropriate for aspiring, new, and experienced editors of fiction. Questions and participant examples are welcome throughout the day.

Joy Gugeler has more than 25 years’ experience as an acquiring and substantive editor. She has acquired and edited more than 80 books for Beach Holme Publishing, Raincoast Books, and ECW Press, and has served as editor-in-chief for three online magazines and as an editorial board member for ARC Poetry, Quarry, Portal, and Room quarterlies. She edits the Ralph Gustafson Distinguished Poet’s Lecture Series and up to 10 titles annually for her freelance firm, Chameleon Consulting. She teaches editing for Ryerson University’s Certificate in Publishing program, Simon Fraser University’s Master of Publishing program and Summer Publishing Workshops, and Vancouver Island University. Joy holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master’s degree in Canadian studies from Carleton University, and is completing a PhD in communications at Simon Fraser University.

April 22, 2017—The Secrets of Syntax

We’ve all flipped a sentence around, or dismantled it and then recombined it, only to discover better clarity, emphasis, rhythm, or flow. Why does this happen, and how can we become more adept at manipulating word order—or syntax—to improve prose? This seminar looks at syntax from various angles, including how to shape it for different documents, styles, and readers. This seminar will appeal to editors, writers, and rewriters at all levels of experience. Drawing on real-life examples, participants will discuss the effects of different sentence structures and experiment with syntax in short exercises.

Frances Peck is an honorary certified professional editor and a writer who has worked with words for more than 25 years. She prepared the Canadian edition of The St. Martin’s Workbook, a grammar exercise book; co-authored the popular HyperGrammar website; and wrote Peck’s English Pointers, a collection of articles and quizzes available at the Language Portal of Canada. A partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, Frances teaches at Douglas College and the University of British Columbia and gives workshops across Canada. She is also a sometime blogger and fiction writer.

March 25, 2017—How to Be the Laziest Editor Possible: Maximizing the Tools in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word can be simultaneously the simplest and the most frustrating piece of software editors use daily. During this half-day workshop, you’ll learn how to make this essential tool work better for you, saving your clients money and yourself a hassle as you streamline the editing process. Join certified trainer Michael Ouchi as he shares tips and tricks for making the most of this common program. He’ll explain the changes to and newer features of Word, and—through practical, hands-on lessons—you’ll sharpen your skills and increase your Microsoft Word knowledge to become the “laziest editor possible.” This workshop is for anyone who feels there must be a better or easier way to use this software. Whether you’re a beginner or a more advanced user, Michael will adapt the session to meet your needs, answer your questions, and illuminate what you didn’t know you didn’t know.

Michael Ouchi is a master instructor in Office and a Microsoft-certified trainer with more than 20 years’ experience training and developing workflow solutions for his clients. He’s also a storyteller, children’s entertainer, and published author.

February 25, 2017—Editing Non-Fiction Book Proposals

A thorough book proposal is required for most nonfiction authors to be represented by a literary agent or to land a deal with a publisher. In this three-hour session, you’ll learn how to shape a nonfiction book proposal that will open doors. You’ll discover each of the elements required (from competitive title analysis to author bio, chapter summaries and more) and how to make them stand out. You’ll also learn about common editorial issues with nonfiction book proposals, and how to help position a book for the marketplace. Nonfiction editors of all levels are welcome. Those interested in substantive editing will find this workshop particularly appealing, though prior substantive experience is not required. Query letters for fiction manuscripts are not the focus of this workshop.

Trena White is a co-founder of Page Two, a Vancouver-based publishing agency specializing in nonfiction books, and an associate agent with Transatlantic Agency. Before launching Page Two, Trena was publisher of Douglas & McIntyre and Greystone Books, as well as a nonfiction editor at McClelland & Stewart. She is now an adjunct professor in publishing at SFU.

January 28, 2017—Business Planning Your Way to Success and Finding and Managing Good Clients

Business Planning Your Way to Success. One of the most overlooked aspects of a freelancer’s business is business planning. A business plan is an important part of a successful business. It helps identify goals and priorities, sets out how much a freelancer has to charge to earn a living, and provides a means for determining how successful and sustainable the business is. In this three-hour course, you'll learn the basic elements of a business plan. Through exercises and discussion, you'll examine what your business is, what your want your business to be, who your ideal clients are, what your budget is, and how you plan to market yourself. This workshop is geared toward newer freelance editors and writers, but it's relevant for editors and writers at all stages of their careers.

Finding and Managing Good Clients. Finding good clients is vital to running a successful editing or writing business. Unfortunately, it’s an aspect of freelancing that we often dislike. Networking, cold calling, and marketing ourselves are usually low on the priority list. When we do find clients, we sometimes feel uncertain of how to manage the client relationship and ensure that our time and work are respected and our invoices are paid on time. In this three-hour workshop, you'll explore effective methods for finding clients and managing client relationships. Through class discussion and exercises, you'll better understand where to find work, steps to ensure that your invoices are paid, and tricks for managing your client relationships. This workshop is geared toward newer freelance editors and writers, but it's relevant for editors and writers at all stages of their careers.

Heidi Turner is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years’ experience. In addition to her work for periodicals and corporate clients, Heidi runs the Vancouver Writing Jobs blog, a resource for people looking for jobs and contracts in writing and editing. She has taught three courses as part of Simon Fraser University’s editing program, and she regularly presents workshops and one-day courses for people in the writing industry. In 2013, Heidi received the Abbotsford Arts Council’s Arty Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Literary Arts. She has served as the BC regional director for the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC), for which she founded the Fraser Valley chapter. She also has a dog who remains unimpressed with her achievements.

November 26, 2016—Tax and Finance for Freelancers with Jessica Somers 

So you’re a freelancer. What do you need to know to keep track of finances and file your taxes? This six-hour seminar provides an introduction to basic tax and finance issues for freelancers, including GST/HST registration, bookkeeping and record retention, and building financial stability without a salary. The day will be a mix of conversational learning and hands-on training, using a variety of helpful tools and apps to keep your finances on track. For editors new to freelancing, this workshop covers the basic essentials; veteran freelancers will learn some tips and tricks, have their questions answered, and clarify the details. 

Jessica Somers is a chartered professional accountant (CPA, CGA) with over ten years of experience advising freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses in Vancouver on tax, accounting, and business process. She is the co-founder of Cordova Street Consulting, a new firm in Gastown with a focus on knowledge sharing, outreach, and taking the stress and mystery out of tax. Jessica is also a facilitator and session leader at the CPA Western School of Business, where she teaches the next generation of Vancouver accountants and tax advisors.

October 29, 2016—Skilful Structural Editing with Ruth Wilson

Many editors are intimidated when they are asked to do a structural edit. Unlike other stages of editing, structural editing has fewer “rules,” and there is never just one way to solve structural problems. Structural editors are called upon to clarify, reorganize, and even rewrite. Negotiation with the author is also often part of the job. This one-day workshop will deepen your existing skills by examining a sure-fire approach and process. You will learn how to break down structural editing into manageable tasks and resolve imbalance in content and ensure the manuscript is appropriate for the intended audience. At the end of the workshop, participants will know how to assess a manuscript to identify structural issues, how to use an outline to reveal structure, what questions to ask when analyzing problems, how to avoid over editing and respect the writer’s work, how graphics and design can support structural editing decisions, why diplomacy can be just as important as editorial skill, and how to estimate how long editing will take. This workshop will help anyone wishing to advance their structural editing abilities, broaden their skills base, or study for the upcoming structural certification test offered by Editors Canada this fall. It will be most useful for participants who already have an understanding of structural editing and some experience, although editors at all levels are welcome. All course materials will be supplied. 

Ruth Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience editing trade books, professional journals, association publications, and corporate materials at all levels. She first honed her structural editing skills when she worked at Vancouver book publisher Self-Counsel Press, and since then she has shared what she has learned, having taught Substantive Editing in SFU’s Writing and Communications Program for 15 years, along with other skills-based courses. Ruth is a partner in West Coast Editorial Associates and she has served on several national committees of Editors Canada. In 2011 she was honoured by Editors Canada as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service, and in 2014 she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Hon) for the work she did in developing and launching Editors Canada’s world-class certification program.

September 17, 2016—Advanced Proofreading with Ruth Wilson

Are you ready to extend your proofreading skills beyond finding typos and knowing how to mark up copy? This exercise-based workshop focuses on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills. It offers participants the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and learn how to fine-tune their proofreading eye to catch every error. With documents ranging from recipes to journal articles, participants will be challenged to use their judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all. This workshop will help anyone wishing to advance their proofreading skills, prepare for job advancement, or study for the upcoming proofreading certification test offered by Editors Canada this fall. Participants should have some proofreading experience and be familiar with conventional markup. Course material will be supplied, but participants should bring a current dictionary, pencils and pens, a calculator, and a ruler or other measure that they now use on the job.

Ruth Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience editing and proofreading trade books, professional journals, association publications, and corporate materials. She worked for many years with Vancouver book publisher Self-Counsel Press, but in 1997 she decided to spread her wings as an independent consultant. She is now a partner in West Coast Editorial Associates. Ruth also leads training workshops in all aspects of editing, and for many years was an instructor in the Writing and Communications Program and the Summer Publishing Workshops at Simon Fraser University. She has also served on several national committees of Editors Canada. In 2011 she was honoured by Editors Canada as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service, and in 2014 she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Hon) for the work she did in developing and launching the association’s world-class certification program.

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June 10, 2016—Four Amazing Pre-conference Seminars

Take advantage of Editors British Columbia’s pre-conference seminars on June 10, as we lead up to Editors Canada’s national conference in Vancouver, June 11-12! The local branch is offering three half-day seminars and its annual PubPro unconference:

• PubPro 2016: Fourth Annual Unconference for Managing Editors and Publication Production Professionals
• The Basics of Editing on PDF
• Creating a House Style: A Simple Tool for Producing Better Documents Faster
• Design and Prepress Basics for Editors

May 14, 2016—Plain Language: The Basics with Peter Moskos

Presented in Victoria, in a partnership between Editors British Columbia and the Professional Editors Association of Vancouver Island (PEAVI)

According to the Canadian Literacy and Learning Network, 42 percent of adult Canadians have difficulty reading the texts necessary to their daily lives (www.literacy.ca/literacy/literacy-sub). For many of these people, as well as those of us with little time to read documents more than once, plain language is a must. This course introduces plain language with participants working in groups and learning by doing. The course manual (included in the registration fee) demonstrates basic plain language techniques and provides “before” and “after” examples, practical exercises, and an easy-to-use checklist.

An accomplished writer and editor, Peter Moskos specializes in plain language writing—organizing unstructured, complex, or overwritten materials and making them clear and easy to follow. Peter has written and edited reports to Parliament, technical reports, manuals, student handbooks, training materials, speeches, legislation, marketing materials, and advertising brochures. Now based in Vancouver, Peter is retired but continues to offer courses in plain language and in how to build a writing and editing business. In the past, Peter taught in Douglas College’s Print Futures Program and was an online instructor for Ryerson University’s Diploma in Publishing. Peter played a formative role in the development of Editors Canada’s certification program and for his contribution was designated an honorary Certified Professional Editor.

April 9, 2016—Tips and Tools for Self-Publishing and Small Presses with Eve Rickert and Franklin Veaux

Editors BC’s April workshop will cover a range of options and activities available for self-publishing authors and indie presses, from production, printing, and distribution to e-book and audiobook production to publicity, advertising, and sales. In this five-hour workshop, participants will run through the entire book-publishing process from the perspective of a small publisher or self-publishing author. Lecture blocks will be broken up by Q&A sessions and group discussions. Freelance and in-house editors who work with small presses and self-publishing authors will find that this workshop adds value to the services they provide their clients.

Eve Rickert is founder and senior writer/editor for Talk Science to Me Communications Inc. and managing editor for Thorntree Press. She is an Editors Canada Certified Professional Editor and has been involved in editing and production for print since 2002.

Franklin Veaux is senior designer and prepress specialist for Talk Science to Me Communications Inc. and design director for Thorntree Press. He has provided professional prepress and, later, design services since 1992 for large clients all over the world.

March 19, 2016—The Art of the Query with Ruth Wilson

Good querying skills are as important as any other copy editing function. Effective queries set the tone for a fruitful author-editor relationship and make the editing process more efficient. Poor querying can take a project off the rails. In this three-hour workshop, participants will review both effective and ineffective queries from actual manuscripts. They will have the opportunity to discuss process and procedure, and practise their querying skills in short exercises. Beginning and mid-career level editors will find this workshop most useful, though editors of all experience are welcome.

Ruth Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience as an editor. She worked for many years with Vancouver, B.C., book publisher Self-Counsel Press, and since 1998 she has been a partner in West Coast Editorial Associates, offering a wide range of editorial and training services. Ruth is also a respected instructor at Simon Fraser University, where she has taught many courses in editorial skills for more than 15 years. In 2011 she was honoured as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service from Editors Canada, and in 2014 she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Hon) for the work she did in developing and launching Editors Canada’s world-class Certification Program.

March 19, 2016—Introduction to Applying Proofreading Markup to PDFs Using Adobe Acrobat Reader with Barbara Tomlin

This three-hour workshop introduces participants to the markup tools available in Adobe Acrobat Reader. Although Microsoft Word Track Changes is good for communicating at the document drafting and editing stage, Adobe Acrobat tools are better for the proofreading stage. Learning how to use Reader to annotate Portable Document Format (PDF) files can allow for more effective communication with co-workers: commenting tools can be used to add concise instructions and suggestions for revising content, while proofreading stamps can be used to show where detailed typographic changes are needed. Anyone doing work that requires collaborating with others to review and revise documents will want to learn how to make good use of commenting tools and proofreading stamps. Participants will use their own PC laptops during the workshop and should be familiar with basic file management techniques. They should know how to open, save, and close files in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, a free download available at https://get.adobe.com/reader. Before the session, a workshop booklet file and a set of proofreading stamps will be provided to registered participants for loading on their laptops. The workshop is designed for PC users not Mac users.

Barbara Tomlin began working in the publishing industry more than 35 years ago, first for educational and trade book publishers, and later for magazine publishers. Since then she has edited, copy edited, and proofread a wide range of material for a variety of clients. She is certified as an Editor in the Life Sciences and is a past chair of the Editors’ Association of Canada Certification Steering Committee. She has developed writing and editing workshops for many organizations, and was an instructor for SFU’s Marketing and Communications Program for 27 years. She is a founding partner of West Coast Editorial Associates.

February 24, 2016—Plain Language: The Basics with Peter Moskos

According to the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), 48 percent of adult Canadians have difficulty reading the texts necessary to their daily lives. For many of these people, as well as those of us with little time to read documents more than once, plain language is a must. This course introduces plain language. The course manual demonstrates basic plain language techniques and provides “before” and “after” examples, practical exercises and an easy-to-use checklist. The course is learner-centred and skills-based. Working in groups, you will learn by doing.

An accomplished writer and editor, Peter Moskos specializes in plain language writing—organizing unstructured, complex or overwritten materials and making them clear and easy to follow. Peter has written and edited reports to Parliament, technical reports, manuals, student handbooks, training materials, speeches, legislation, marketing materials and advertising brochures. Now based in Vancouver, Peter is retired but continues to offer courses in plain language and in how to build a writing and editing business. In the past, Peter taught in Douglas College’s Print Futures Program and was an online instructor for Ryerson University’s Diploma in Publishing. Peter played a formative role in the development of Editors Canada’s certification program and for his contribution was designated an honorary Certified Professional Editor.

January 23, 2016—Editing Fiction with Caroline Adderson

Behind every great novelist and short story writer there is a great editor. In this course, acclaimed author and writing teacher Caroline Adderson will share techniques to help editors bring out the greatness in their writers, from dazzling openings to moving endings and the whole story in between. Participants will practise these techniques in-class (manuscripts provided). Adderson will also offer advice on the all-important writer-editor relationship. Caroline Adderson is the author of four novels (A History of Forgetting, Sitting Practice, The Sky Is Falling, Ellen in Pieces), two collections of short stories (Bad Imaginings, Pleased to Meet You), and many books for young readers. Her work has received numerous prize nominations including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, two Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist, the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Rogers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Winner of two Ethel Wilson Fiction Prizes and three CBC Literary Awards, Caroline was also the recipient of the 2006 Marian Engel Award for mid-career achievement. She lives in Vancouver where she teaches in SFU’s Writing and Publishing Program.

November 29, 2015—Freelance Editing 101 with Barbara Adamski

Thinking of taking the plunge into full- or part-time freelance editing? Learn what to consider before setting up shop, how to find and keep good clients, and the benefits, pitfalls, and not-so-fun (yet necessary!) aspects of freelancing. At the end of this workshop, participants will better understand whether a career in freelance editing is for them; learn what to do before taking the plunge; discover how to find their niche and market themselves for specific projects; understand how to set up and operate a successful freelance business; and identify some of the benefits and pitfalls of freelance editing.

Barbara K. Adamski has been a freelance writer and editor for over a decade. Her recent editing projects include Salmonbellies vs. the World: The Story of Lacrosse’s Most Famous Team and Their Greatest Rivals, This Godforsaken Place, and several ebooks.

October 31, 2015—Stylistic Editing: Beyond the Basics with Nancy Flight

Stylistic editing is editing to clarify meaning, improve flow, and smooth language. This workshop will go beyond the basics to focus on the more advanced aspects of stylistic editing. It will also explore such provocative topics as when omitting needless words can go too far and when repetition is good.

Nancy Flight is associate publisher of Greystone Books. She has been editing books for more than forty years, both as an in-house editor and as a freelancer, in Canada and the United States. She has worked with such authors as David Suzuki, Evelyn Lau, and Wade Davis, among many others. She received the 1988 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence for her work on Genethics: The Art of Engineering Life, by David Suzuki and Peter Knudtson. In addition, she has taught at the SFU Masters of Publishing Program, the Banff Book Editing Workshop, the Simon Fraser University Book Editing Workshop, and the SFU Book Publishing Workshop and has taught writing at SFU. Nancy is also a past president of Editors Canada and of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia and has served on the executive council of the Association of Canadian Book Publishers. She was responsible for revising the standards for stylistic editing during Editors Canada’s review of professional standards in 2009. She currently sits on the Langara College Publishing Advisory Committee.

September 26, 2015—Creating Compelling Web Content with Lisa Manfield

As Web readers become more and more difficult to attract—and keep—on your website, how can today’s Web editors ensure that their digital content engages online audiences? Effective web editing comes down to three key strategies—understanding web readers, knowing enough about search optimization to ensure copy is found, and making the most of social media sharing.

Lisa Manfield is a writer, editor, and content strategist. She has developed print and online content, marketing collateral, and courseware for small businesses, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions. Currently a digital writer at tech startup Chimp, she has also been the editor of BCLiving.ca, managing editor at Orato.com, and marketing manager at TheTyee.ca. She also teaches Writing and Editing for the Web at Simon Fraser University.

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March 19, 2015—Getting the Message Across: Clear Writing Tips

Workplace documents have one goal: to deliver a message quickly and clearly to a particular audience. But too often that message gets buried by weak organization, wordiness, abstract language, jargon, unhelpful design, and other barriers to readability. This half-day introduction to clear writing shows you how to remove those barriers and build a document that says what it means. We’ll talk about the all-important reader, including the different types of readers and their varying needs. We’ll cover seven practical techniques for making written documents clearer. We’ll finish with a look at how page layout affects readability. The workshop includes short exercises to help you apply what you learn. You’ll also receive a list of recommended resources.

Frances Peck (West Coast Editorial Associates) is a writer and Honorary Certified Professional Editor who specializes in editing and rewriting for clarity. She has taught for the University of Ottawa, Simon Fraser University, Douglas College, the Editors’ Association of Canada, and countless government and private sector organizations. Frances is the author of Peck’s English Pointers, a collection of articles and quizzes on the Language Portal of Canada, and a co-author of the HyperGrammar website.

April 25, 2015—PubPro: An Unconference for Managing Editors and Publication Production Specialists

Co-hosts: EAC-BC, SFU Publishing Workshops of the Canadian Institute for Studies in Publishing

Whether you’re called managing editor, production editor, editorial coordinator, publications director, project manager, editor-in-chief, or any number of titles, you do any or all of the following:

• Work in-house for an organization that creates publications
• Manage an editorial and production team of in-house staff and freelancers
• Hire freelancers, including editors, writers, designers, and indexers
• Develop project schedules
• Create or work to project budgets
• Shepherd projects through the production process

Publishers often meet to discuss sales, marketing, and digital strategies, but rarely do the people who actually make the publications happen get together and brain-share. This special PD event is a series of short seminars, offering managing editors and production specialists the opportunity to meet others in similar roles and learn from one another. Whether you’re interested in how others approach freelancer recruitment, training, and scheduling, or have a success story to share about streamlining workflow or project management, PubPro is the place to air your production-related questions and triumphs.

February 21, 2015—Eight-Step Editing with Jim Taylor

Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned editor, a would-be writer or a supervisor of others’ writing, this course will help you make your words work better. Using a step-by-step process, the program identifies the most common factors that become obstacles for readers. It not only helps recognize the problems, it shows quick and simple techniques for fixing them. Professional editors tend to make these corrections intuitively. Eight-Step Editing helps them ensure they haven’t overlooked some crucial readability factor in their zeal to track down spelling or punctuation inconsistencies. Novice editors often suffer from paralysis. Eight-Step Editing gives them a starting point that doesn’t depend on subjective assessments of a manuscript’s worth. Freelance writers can use the Eight-Step process to improve their own materials before submission, enhancing their chances of acceptance. Business writers, trapped in traditional formulas from the filing cabinet, will benefit from a fresh vision for writing prose that can persuade and motivate. At the same time, supervisors and administrators who approve letters and reports will understand better what to look for.

Jim Taylor developed Eight-Step Editing as a workshop for the Editors’ Association of Canada in 1985. He has led Eight-Step workshops in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary, and Victoria. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, Jim Taylor has over 50 years’ experience in writing and editing. He has produced programs in both private and public radio; he was for 13 years managing editor of a 300,000 circulation national magazine; he has also been editor of two other magazines and seven newsletters. In 1981, he co-founded a publishing house, Wood Lake Books Inc., which has since published over 200 titles. He is himself the author of 17 books, and has had “somewhere over 800” periodical articles published. He writes two newspaper columns a week (also available on the Internet). He regularly teaches writing and editing workshops all across Canada.

January 24, 2015—Building a Successful Editing Business with Peter Moskos

For many editors, working as an individual freelancer or in-house editor is just the ticket. For others, the idea of growing an editing business holds strong appeal. Using a series of discussion scenarios, we’ll start the workshop by looking at how you run and handle work overload in a single-person business. We’ll then explore possible expansions from a simple partnership to an incorporated company with employees. As part of our journey, we’ll stop to learn how to estimate costs for an editing project and how to prepare a proposal for editing work. These are abilities every freelance editor needs. We’ll also consider what’s wrong when you are doing more work but taking home less money. Whatever your business goal, you’ll find strategies for making your editing business succeed and moulding it to a lifestyle that suits you.

From 1995 to 2004, Peter Moskos was the managing partner and cofounder of the Gordon Writing Group. He oversaw the company’s growth from a small two-person operation to Ottawa’s largest and best-known provider of writing and editing services. During this time, Peter learned much about making a writing and editing business successful. Now based in Vancouver, Peter has taught business skills in the Print Futures Professional Writing Program at Douglas College and offered an online course on government reports for Ryerson University’s Certificate in Publishing. Peter is an EAC Honorary Certified Professional Editor and often works on developing the tests used in EAC’s certification program.

November 29, 2014—Beyond Track Changes: Editing with Microsoft Word

Love it or hate it, Microsoft Word is the de facto tool of the trade for editors. Are you getting the most out of it? In this full-day seminar, learn how to:

• tame Word’s most irritating automatic features and customize your settings to maximize editing efficiency
• effortlessly navigate through a Word document
• use Word’s built-in shortcut keys—beyond copy and paste—and create some of your own
• use Word’s revision tools (including Track Changes and comments) effectively
• perform powerful searches, enabling you to, for example, select the acronyms in a document and format them at once, find out the number of times a word is used, and quickly format numbers according to your style sheet
• use Styles—not only for quick formatting but also for structural editing and restricting Find and Replace to certain parts of your document
• create helpful AutoCorrect, AutoText, and macro shortcuts to save you keystrokes

These techniques help transform Word from a simple word processor into a powerful editorial ally. This seminar applies to versions of Microsoft Word 2007 and later (PC and Mac). Participants should bring Microsoft Word–installed laptops.

Iva Cheung is a Certified Professional Editor with a dozen years’ experience editing books, journals, books, magazines, and websites. She co-taught On-Screen Editing: Getting the Most Out of Microsoft Word with Grace Yaginuma in SFU’s Writing and Communications program. She holds a Master of Publishing degree from SFU and is a winner of the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence.

Grace Yaginuma is a Certified Copy Editor who has been editing full time since 2005. After completing the editing and publishing certificates at SFU continuing studies, she worked in house at Self-Counsel Press and Whitecap Books. She now freelance edits, specializing in non-fiction and cookbook editing.

Ann-Marie Metten is a Certified Professional Editor who works in-house at Talonbooks wrestling with both the Mac and PC versions of Microsoft Word to publish plays, poetry, and Quebec literature in translation. As an editor whose career editing books and magazines began in 1982, she has edited with every version of Word, from the clumsy MS-DOS version released as Word 1.0 in October 1983 right through to the much more flexible tool it is today.

September 20, 2014—Advanced Proofreading with Ruth Wilson

This exercise-based workshop focuses on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills. It offers participants the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and learn how to fine-tune their proofreading eye to catch every error. With documents ranging from recipes to journal articles, participants will be challenged to use their judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all. Time will be spent discussing the process a proofreader must follow as part of a larger production team, and examples of process checklists from publishers and organizations will be provided. This workshop will be helpful to anyone wishing to advance their proofreading skills, prepare for job advancement, or study for EAC’s upcoming Proofreading Certification test this fall. Participants should have some proofreading experience and be familiar with conventional mark-up. Course material will be supplied, but participants should bring a current dictionary, pencils and pens, a calculator, and a ruler or other measure that they now use on the job.

Ruth Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience editing and proofreading trade books, professional journals, association publications, and corporate materials. She worked for many years with Vancouver book publisher Self-Counsel Press, and since 1998 she has been an independent consultant and partner in West Coast Editorial Associates. Ruth is also a respected instructor in the Writing and Communications Program and the Summer Publishing Workshops at Simon Fraser University, where she teaches proofreading, editing, and plain language skills. She has also served on several national committees of the Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC). In 2014 she was granted an honorary Certified Professional Editor (CPE) in recognition of her contributions to EAC’s professional certification program.

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PubPro 2014: An Unconference for Managing Editors and Publication Production Specialists
May 24, 2014—Publishers often meet to discuss sales, marketing, and digital strategies, but very rarely do the people who actually make the publications happen get to gather and brain share. This special PD seminar offers managing editors and production specialists the opportunity to meet others in their role and learn from one another.

Usage Woes and Myths with Frances Peck
April 12, 2014—You’ve sorted out imply and infer. You know it’s not all right to use alright. But what about more troublesome usage points, like the difference between may and might? Or such commonly misused words as dilemma and fulsome? Is it true that you should always change though to although, till to until? Is impact now officially a verb? For anyone intent on preventing (not avoiding) word errors and avoiding (not preventing) usage myths, this seminar will help. We’ll take an up-to-date look at some of the most misunderstood and contentious points of English usage, and identify helpful guides and other resources. Bring your top usage questions to share with the group. Frances Peck has been an editor and writer for over 20 years. Author of Peck’s English Pointers and a co-author of the HyperGrammar website, she teaches editing at Douglas College and Simon Fraser University and gives workshops across Canada. She is a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates and a member of the EAC-BC executive.

Structural + Stylistic = Substantive Editing with Yvonne Van Ruskenveld
March 29, 2014—Substantive editing brings order to chaos and breathes life into moribund manuscripts. By reorganizing and revising, you can help authors reach their readers effectively. But facing a disorganized, incomplete (or overstuffed!) manuscript can be daunting. This workshop will discuss techniques for assessing non-fiction manuscripts, identifying problem areas, creating solutions, working with the author, and estimating. Whether you edit newsletter articles or full-length books, the strategies and techniques in this workshop can enhance your substantive editing skills. Yvonne Van Ruskenveld is an experienced editor and writer who enjoys transforming sprawling, jumbled manuscripts into interesting, readable publications. Yvonne has worked both as a freelancer and as managing editor for an educational publisher. Her clients have included publishers large and small, other businesses, governments, a commission of inquiry, non-governmental organizations, and academics. She has worked on manuals, reports, brochures, websites, trade books, and textbooks. Yvonne lives in Victoria and is a member of West Coast Editorial Associates.

Research Skills and Fact Checking
February 8, 2014
Introduction to Research Skills with Susan Safyan. In this short session, you’ll be given an introduction to research skills and free online reference resources. By the end of the workshop, you’ll know how to assess the reliability of the information found on a website (when can you trust Wikipedia?) and effectively use both search engines like Google and databases such as CBCA. Plus, you’ll be given a list of librarian-approved online reference sources to use for fact checking. Susan Safyan, MLIS, was an academic reference librarian for a dozen years before switching over to the other side of the book biz. She’s the editor at Vancouver’s Arsenal Pulp Press and bibliographer for BC Studies: The British Columbia Quarterly.
Fact Checking for Editors with Mary Schendlinger. Editors and publishers are major contributors to the public record, so we’d better get things right! In this workshop, through discussion and hands-on exercises, we will survey the pleasures and challenges of checking facts in print and online material. Why to check, what to check, where to check, how to assess the authority of a source, how to ask questions, how to present results to writers and publishers, how to document the work—and how to do a good job when the budget doesn’t allow for a thorough check. Mary Schendlinger has worked as a writer, editor, and publisher for 43 years. She is senior editor of Geist magazine, a member of the SFU Master of Publishing faculty, and an instructor in the UBC Creative Writing Program.

Eight-Step Editing with Jim Taylor
January 18, 2014—Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned editor, a would-be writer or a supervisor of others’ writing, this course will help you make your words work better. Using a step-by-step process, the program identifies the most common factors that become obstacles for readers. It not only helps recognize the problems, it shows quick and simple techniques for fixing them. Professional editors tend to make these corrections intuitively. Eight-Step Editing helps them ensure they haven’t overlooked some crucial readability factor in their zeal to track down spelling or punctuation inconsistencies. Novice editors often suffer from paralysis. Eight-Step Editing gives them a starting point that doesn’t depend on subjective assessments of a manuscript’s worth. Freelance writers can use the Eight-Step process to improve their own materials before submission, enhancing their chances of acceptance. Business writers, trapped in traditional formulas from the filing cabinet, will benefit from a fresh vision for writing prose that can persuade and motivate. At the same time, supervisors and administrators who approve letters and reports will understand better what to look for. Jim Taylor developed Eight-Step Editing as a workshop for the Editors’ Association of Canada in 1985. He has led Eight-Step workshops in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary, and Victoria. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, Jim Taylor has over 50 years’ experience in writing and editing. He has produced programs in both private and public radio; he was for 13 years managing editor of a 300,000 circulation national magazine; he has also been editor of two other magazines and seven newsletters. In 1981, he co-founded a publishing house, Wood Lake Books Inc., which has since published over 200 titles. He is himself the author of 17 books, and has had “somewhere over 800” periodical articles published. He writes two newspaper columns a week (also available on the Internet). He regularly teaches writing and editing workshops all across Canada.

Effective Writing for the Web with Zoe Grams
November 30, 2013—Effective web engagement requires writers to create strong first impressions while also developing an ongoing relationship with readers. As such, writing—and editing—for the web is often vastly different to its in-print counterparts. In this course you will discover how readers interact with online content and what to consider when crafting writing to connect with such an audience. Through practical exercises, open dialogue, and leading techniques, this course will help you to optimize writing across different online platforms. Zoe Grams is a communications specialist who has worked with a range of not-for-profits, authors, and publishers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Beyond the Basics: Advanced Copy Editing with Maureen Nicholson
October 19, 2013—You know language; you’re a master of style and syntax; you can spot a typo or a format glitch from metres away. What more can you do to improve the language you work with? This workshop deals with advanced copy editing: What is it? How do you do it? What are its best practices? What are the best resources? How do you schedule it? What can you charge for it? Participants who will benefit most from this all-day workshop will be competent copy editors with successful experience editing in different publication formats. They may also be preparing to write the November 2013 EAC Certification Copy Editing Test. The workshop will require preparation and active participation throughout the day. Come prepared to share your skills and experiences. Maureen Nicholson has 30 years’ experience as an editor. She coordinates and teaches in the professional writing program at Douglas College, is a past-president and honorary life member of the Editors’ Association of Canada, and now, for the most part, edits books.

Grammar Essentials for Writers and Editors: A Seminar for the Faint-hearted and the Fearless with Barbara Tomlin
September 21, 2013—Whether you feel anxious when you hear the word “grammar” or you are eager to address gaps in your knowledge, you will benefit from this review of how English works—and sometimes doesn’t. Can you explain how a transitive verb differs from an intransitive one, or how a phrase differs from a clause? Can you tell a client or your colleagues what is wrong with a sentence that “doesn’t sound right”? Many capable writers and editors of English would have to answer no to these questions. Through exercises, discussions and group activities, gain a better understanding of sentence structure and grammar terminology. Learn about common errors that can mar otherwise good writing, and leave the seminar feeling better about your grasp of the language that you use by instinct every day. Barbara Tomlin began working in the publishing industry more than 30 years ago, first for educational and trade book publishers, and then for magazine publishers. Since then she has edited, copy edited, and proofread a wide range of material for a variety of clients. She is certified as an Editor in the Life Sciences and is a past chair of the Editors’ Association of Canada Certification Steering Committee. She has also been an instructor for SFU’s Writing and Communications Program for more than 20 years and has developed writing and editing workshops for many organizations. She is a founding member of West Coast Editorial Associates.

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PubPro 2013: An Unconference for Managing Editors and Publication Production Specialists
April 13, 2013—Publishers often meet to discuss sales, marketing, and digital strategies, but very rarely do the people who actually make the publications happen get to gather and brain share. This special PD seminar offers managing editors and production specialists the opportunity to meet others in their role and learn from one another.

Grammar Boot Camp with Frances Peck
April 7, 2013—Want to flex your grammar (and punctuation and usage) muscles? This intensive seminar will put you through the paces. Focusing on high-level errors—the ones that make it past editors and proofreaders and into print—this one-day session will help you identify and fix the most puzzling mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and usage. We’ll look at errors from a range of publications, discuss up-to-date approaches to correcting them, and run through a series of challenging editing exercises. Feel free to bring along any difficult examples you’ve encountered on the job. Frances Peck has been working with words for over two decades, whether writing them, editing them, or teaching people about them. Author of Peck’s English Pointers (available through the Language Portal of Canada) and a co-author of the popular HyperGrammar website, she teaches editing at Douglas College and Simon Fraser University. She is a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates and a member of the EAC-BC executive.

Ethics for Editors with Mary Schendlinger
March 16, 2013—To edit and publish language is to mediate knowledge and culture—quite the responsibility! We will explore ethical questions for editors, from the gravity-defying act of juggling the needs of writers, advertisers, and readers, to the sensitive diplomatic mission of pointing out a racist or sexist passage, to the daredevil feat of deciding just how creative a piece of creative non-fiction can be. By working through exercises and sharing experiences, we will find new entrances to the questions and new ideas for solutions. Mary Schendlinger has worked as a writer, editor, and publisher for 42 years. She is senior editor of Geist magazine, a member of the SFU Master of Publishing faculty, and an instructor in the UBC Creative Writing Program.

Freelance 101 for Editors: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly with Barbara K. Adamski
February 23, 2013—Whether you’re thinking of taking the plunge into full- or part-time freelancing or are already doing it, this workshop is for you. Learn what to consider before setting up shop, how to find and keep good clients, and some of the common pitfalls and not-so-fun (yet necessary!) aspects of freelancing.
Barbara K. Adamski has been a freelance writer and editor for the better part of a decade. Her recent editing projects include a book on video game law, several novels, and the bestselling ebook Finding Karla.

Editing Fiction with Caroline Adderson
January 12, 2013—Behind every great novelist and short story writer there is a great editor. In this course, acclaimed author and writing teacher Caroline Adderson will share techniques to help editors bring out the greatness in their writers, from dazzling openings to moving endings, and the whole story in between, including effective plotting, pacing, and dialogue. She will also offer advice on the all-important writer-editor relationship. www.carolineadderson.com www.carolineaddersonkids.com

Grammar Essentials for Writers and Editors: A Seminar for the Faint-hearted and the Fearless with Barbara Tomlin
November 18, 2012—Our first seminar in Kelowna. Whether you feel anxious when you hear the word “grammar” or you are eager to address gaps in your knowledge, you will benefit from this review of how English works—and sometimes doesn’t. Through exercises, discussions, and group activities, gain a better understanding of sentence structure and grammar terminology. Learn about common errors that can mar otherwise good writing, and leave the seminar feeling better about your grasp of the language that you use by instinct every day.

Structural + Stylistic = Substantive Editing with Yvonne Van Ruskenveld
October 27, 2012—Substantive editing brings order to chaos and breathes life into moribund manuscripts. By reorganizing and revising, you can help authors reach their readers effectively. But facing a disorganized, incomplete (or overstuffed!) manuscript can be daunting. This workshop will discuss techniques for assessing non-fiction manuscripts, identifying problem areas, creating solutions, and working with the author. Whether you edit newsletter articles or full-length books, the strategies and techniques in this workshop can enhance your substantive editing skills. 

Advanced Proofreading with Ruth Wilson
September 22, 2012—This exercise-based seminar focuses on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills. It offers you the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and learn how to fine-tune your proofreading eye to catch every error. Using documents ranging from maps to menus, catalogue pages to journal pages, instructor Ruth Wilson will challenge you to use your judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all.

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Editing for Style: Beyond the Basics with Maureen Nicholson 
May 5, 2012—When you edit for style, what are you expected to do? How does this kind of edit differ from proofreading or copy editing?
If there are no hard and fast rules to guide an edit, how do you proceed? In this workshop, you will learn a set of principles to guide your approach to editing for style. The workshop includes an overview of stylistic editing, a conceptual framework for this type of editing, and practice in applying stylistic editing techniques. You will work with sample documents provided in advance as well as with material presented in the workshop. The focus of the workshop is on improving document clarity, flow, and language, as well as effectively communicating stylistic editing choices to an author or project team.

Picture Research with Mary Rose MacLachlan and Derek Capitaine (MRM Associates)
April 21, 2012—This seminar includes: Introduction to Picture Research, copyright basics, sources, keywords and other search tips, Lightboxes, submitting to clients, ordering high resolution images and image quality for reproduction, tools of the trade, licensing assets, vendor agreements, types of licensing (RM, RF, Public Domain, etc.), preparing credits, project management (the importance of creating and maintaining photo logs), question and answer sessions. Picture research projects at MRM Associates cover a wide range of subjects from the arts to science to business to social studies. Mary Rose began her career in-house at Prentice-Hall Canada, then moved to Penguin Books selling the subsidiary rights for the Canadian list and then to Harcourt as permissions editor before going freelance. Derek joined MRM Associates as a partner in 2010. He brings his love of photography and his database expertise to the company.

Advanced Proofreading with Ruth Wilson
March 24, 2012—This exercise-based seminar focuses on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills. It offers you the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and learn how to fine-tune your proofreading eye to catch every error. Using documents ranging from maps to menus, catalogue pages to journal pages, instructor Ruth Wilson will challenge you to use your judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all. Time will be spent discussing the process a proofreader must follow when part of a larger production team, and examples of process checklists from various publishers and organizations will be provided.

Structural + Stylistic = Substantive Editing with Yvonne Van Ruskenveld
March 17, 2012 in Victoria, BC—Substantive editing brings order to chaos and breathes life into moribund manuscripts. This workshop will discuss techniques for assessing non-fiction manuscripts, identifying problem areas, creating solutions, and working with the author. Whether you edit newsletter articles or full-length books, the strategies and techniques in this workshop can enhance your substantive editing skills.

Plain Language: The Basics with Peter Moskos
February 18, 2012—Clear communication is key to good writing. This course will introduce you to the fundamentals of plain language, and teach you how to apply it to your own work. Course materials include “before” and “after” writing samples, explanations of the 12 plain language techniques, and an easy-to-use checklist.

Eight-Step Editing with Jim Taylor
January 21, 2012—Using a step-by-step process, the program identifies the most common factors that become obstacles for readers. It not only helps recognize the problems, it shows quick and simple techniques for fixing them. Eight-Step Editing helps professional editors ensure they haven’t overlooked some crucial readability factor in their zeal to track down spelling or punctuation inconsistencies, and gives novice editors a starting point that doesn’t depend on subjective assessments of a manuscript’s worth.

The Secrets of Syntax with Frances Peck
October 8, 2011—This seminar looks at syntax from various angles, including how to shape it for different documents and readers. Topics covered include subordination and coordination, periodic versus cumulative sentences, proximity of subject and verb, echo words, and special techniques such as ellipsis and isolation.

Writing and Editing for the Web with Lisa Manfield
September 10, 2011—This course will introduce you to a range of skills needed by interactive writers and editors, including content research and development, search engine optimization, adapting print materials for the web, and understanding Web 2.0. 

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Always Pity the Poor Reader: Copy Editing 101 with Rob Dykstra
May 14, 2011—This workshop will provide participants with an overview of the copy editing function, the process, and a hands-on editing experience involving common problems, errors and pitfalls. It is designed for those who want to embark on a copy editing career, or as a refresher for those who have limited experience in the field. 

Grammar Fundamentals with Frances Peck
March 12, 2011—Whether your aim is to plug educational holes, to better apply the rules of grammar, or to impress your clients and colleagues, this seminar will cover all the grammatical terms and structures you need to know. So bring your pencils and prepare to parse.

Edting Narrative with Mary Schendlinger
February 12, 2011—Participants will learn tips and techniques for evaluating a narrative—the big picture and the small picture—and for working effectively with the writer as she goes back in to fix it.

What’s the Real Job of a Technical Editor? with Jason Hall
November 27, 2010—If the job of the technical editor is to make complex subjects accessible to normal people, why is it that so many technical documents fail? What is the real job of a technical editor?

Start Your Own Editing Business with Cerina Wheatland
October 23, 2010—Come to this seminar and learn how to survive and thrive as a small business in the writing and editing industry.

Creating & Editing Social Content with the Book Broads
September 25, 2010—Shift happens. Shifts in media can mean fewer opportunities for editors. It is a known fact that there are fewer traditionally published books, newspapers are publishing less and less content, and magazines are also changing. The question is, when the shift hits the fan . . . where are the new opportunities for street-smart editors? The answer is technology. 

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