Editors BC

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Event Review: Getting the Message Across: Clear Writing Tips with Frances Peck

Written by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Karen Barry

Review of seminar Getting the Message Across: Clear Writing Tips with Frances Peck (offered by EAC-BC on March 19, 2015).

Frances Peck is a writer, Honorary Certified Professional Editor, and long-time EAC member and volunteer. She has taught at the University of Ottawa, Douglas College, SFU, and UBC; presented seminars for EAC branches across Canada; and delivered training for a number of government and private-sector organizations.

One of Frances’ specialties is editing and rewriting for clarity, making her the perfect choice to teach EAC-BC’s recent half-day seminar, Getting the Message Across: Clear Writing Tips. The seminar focused on techniques to improve clarity in workplace and public documents to better communicate the intended message.

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Event Review: Eight-Step Editing

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Written by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Joanne King

Review of seminar Eight-Step Editing with Jim Taylor (offered by EAC-BC on February 21, 2015).

Jim Taylor has been a writer and editor since 1958. In 1971, he began teaching editing to business executives, using many of the concepts that would later become Eight-Step Editing. A casual mention of his process caught the attention of his EAC colleagues, and he was encouraged to develop it into a seminar. Jim confessed that, when first asked about the steps he used, he didn’t have a number in mind but surmised that it must be “about eight.”

In the spring of 1984, Jim officially rolled out Eight-Step Editing for EAC. Over the years, his seminar has achieved an almost-legendary status. Although Jim retired in 2007, he has graciously taught the seminar for EAC-BC a number of times since then.

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April 15, 2015: Transcription, Captioning, and Subtitling: An Introduction for Editors

What: EAC-BC monthly meeting
When: Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 7:00–9:00 pm
Where: Welch Room, 4th floor, YWCA Health + Fitness Centre, 535 Hornby Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: Free for EAC members; $10 for non-members; $5 for students with valid ID. Registration at the door.

Transcription, captioning, and subtitling are challenging and interesting areas of work for editors, from both process and service-delivery perspectives. To do this work, an editor needs responsive thinking skills, a full editor’s toolkit, and the ability to break down a job into its constituent parts…and then to recombine the parts to best represent how the text is performed. Please bring your questions!

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Event Review: Language Detectives: Part II

Written by Stephanie Warner; copy edited by Meagan Kus

Recap of EAC-BC’s branch meeting on February 18, 2015.

I’m a fan of British murder mysteries and police procedurals, so it was a thrill for me to attend a talk by Dr. Lorna Fadden, a real-life language detective. Dr. Fadden is an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University, where she teaches introductory linguistics courses. She also researches in the following areas:

  • Canadian varieties of English and how language manifests online
  • discourse analysis (specifically, police interviews and internet luring)

Her website and SFU profile give detailed information on her research.

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Member Interview: Janet Love Morrison

Written by Frances Peck; copy edited by Karen Barry

Janet Love Morrison is a writer, editor, and speaker based in Maple Ridge. Her five books include The Crazy Canucks: Canada’s Legendary Ski Team, winner of the 2009 One Book, One Vancouver award, and the illustrated kids’ book Radar the Rescue Dog.

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Event Review: Building a Successful Editing Business

Written by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Meagan Kus

Review of seminar Building a Successful Editing Business with Peter Moskos (offered by EAC-BC on January 24, 2015).

I was excited to see the topic for EAC-BC’s January seminar: Building a Successful Editing Business. The timing couldn’t be better—as a newish editor who is just venturing into freelancing, I really needed some advice in this area!

The seminar was led by Peter Moskos, a fixture within EAC and a member for 26 years. Now retired, he previously co-founded the highly successful Gordon Writing Group and was the company’s managing partner from 1995 to 2004.

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March 18, 2015: Writers on Editors: An Evening of Eavesdropping

What: EAC-BC monthly meeting
When: Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 7:00–9:00 pm
Where: Welch Room, 4th floor, YWCA Health + Fitness Centre, 535 Hornby Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: Free for EAC members; $10 for non-members; $5 for students with valid ID. Registration at the door.

Note: New members are invited to a special “welcome session” with our member services chair at 7:00 pm.

What do writers really think of editors? Do they love all that well-intentioned advice and criticism, or do they sometimes, just sometimes, resist it? Which editorial strategies work best for writers, and which are doomed to fail? Do self-published authors have different needs than the traditionally published? Our March author panel is your chance to eavesdrop and learn as three accomplished writers tell all about their editors.

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June 12–14, 2015: Conference 2015—Editing Goes Global

What: EAC annual conference
When: June 12–14, 2015
Where: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West, Toronto | map

Compiled by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Meagan Kus

EAC’s annual conference features industry speakers, professional development sessions, networking opportunities, an awards banquet, and more. This year’s conference will be held June 12­–14, 2015, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Greg Ioannou is the conference chair.

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Part of a calendar is shown with one pin lying on top of it, another pin stuck in the 26th of an unknown month, and a blue circle around the 24th.
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February 18, 2015: Language Detectives: Part II

What: EAC-BC monthly meeting
When: Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 7:00–9:00 pm
Where: Welch Room, 4th floor, YWCA Health + Fitness Centre, 535 Hornby Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: Free for EAC members, $10 for non-members, and $5 for students with valid ID. Registration at the door.

Join in as Dr. Lorna Fadden takes us on a journey into the world of forensic linguistics. How do we know if someone understands their rights after they’re arrested? Can we demonstrate an escalation of threat in a series of letters? What does it mean to have a questionable confession? The intricacies of word choice and sentence structure, among other language features, can give us insightful clues into answering these questions.

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Event Review: Editing for the Ear

Written by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Karen Barry

Recap of EAC-BC’s branch meeting on January 21, 2015.

To kick off 2015, EAC-BC hosted Colin Moorhouse at our branch meeting on January 21. Colin is a Vancouver-based speech writer; he also offers presentation training and speech-writing courses. He’s found it to be an interesting niche, as he gets to share in his clients’ passions and learn about a lot of different things.

Colin explained that one of the key considerations when writing a speech is that the end product will be read aloud. Therefore, a good speech writer must appeal to the ear rather than to the eye. Rhythm, pacing, and metre are very important, as is using a colloquial tone and plain language. Speeches also convey emotion more directly than the written word.

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