Seminars

EVENT LISTINGS: September 2012

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Do you have an event planned (or know of one) that you’d like to appear in these listings? Send us the details.

September 19, 2012: EAC-BC meeting: #LFMF

When signing off with “Regards” in a memo to an author, keep in mind that the “G” and “T” keys are in close proximity. #LFMF

Join us for a casual wine and cheese evening on Wednesday, September 19, 2012, where you’ll chat and mingle with your fellow editors and meet this year’s executive. The theme of this meeting—the first of EAC-BC’s 2012–2013 season—is Learn From My Fail (yes—we know it’s bad grammar). Live-tweet your editing lessons learned—your most memorable, not-to-be-repeated moments—to @EditorsBC using hash tag #LFMF, and we’ll display the Twitter feed for all to see. The evening is an opportunity for all editors—whether in-house or freelance, whether seasoned veteran or just starting out—to drink, nosh, and learn from each other.

Not on Twitter? Email us your “lessons learned” before September 18, 2012, and we’ll tweet them on your behalf.

  • Time: 19h00–21h00
  • Cost: FREE for EAC members; $10 FREE for non-members; $5 FREE for students
  • Location: YWCA on Hornby, 535 Hornby Street, Welch Room, 4th floor, Vancouver
  • Registration: Not required

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September 22–23, 2012: Vancouver Book Fair 2012

Don’t forget! The Vancouver Book Fair of antiquarian and modern books—sponsored by The Alcuin Society—is fast approaching. It will feature more than 20 of BC’s Top Booksellers. To determine how susceptible you may be if you sashay into the book-fair fray, take this Test: Are you a hopeless bookworm?

  • Time: 10h00–17h00
  • Cost: $5 (good for both days)
  • Location: Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Rooms C150–C180, Vancouver
  • Registration: Not required

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September 22, 2012: EAC-BC seminar: Advanced Proofreading

This seminar will be helpful to those of you wishing to upgrade your proofreading skills, prepare for job advancement, or study for EAC’s Proofreading Certification test this fall. You should have some proofreading experience and be familiar with conventional mark-up. Course material will be supplied, but bring a current dictionary, pencils and pens, and a ruler or other measure that you use on the job.

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. Examples of process checklists from various publishers and organizations will be provided.

About the instructor: Ruth Wilson has more than 25 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 is also a respected instructor in the Writing and Communications Program and 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 EAC. In 2011, she was honoured as a recipient of EAC’s President’s Award for Volunteer Service.

  • Time: 9h00–16h00
  • Cost: $140 for EAC members; $200 for non-members
  • Location: SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
  • Registration

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September 24, 2012: National Punctuation Day

Take a moment on September 24, 2012, to celebrate National Punctuation Day. Salute all things punctuation related and—if you happen to have an exclamation-point-shaped or question-mark-shaped loaf pan lying around—cook the Official Meatloaf.

This US holiday was founded in 2004 by a former newspaperman to remind American school children and business people that the “semicolon is not a surgical procedure” and that poor punctuation can cost businesses millions of dollars.

  • Location: online

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September 28–30, 2012: Word on the Street

It’s time again for Word on the Street, Canada’s annual book and magazine festival. While at the festival, drop by the EAC-BC booth. Even better, contact PR chair Jessica Lowdon to volunteer to staff the booth for an hour or two.

  • Time: 10h00–17h00
  • Cost: free
  • Location: Library Square and CBC Plaza, Vancouver

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EAC-BC chair: what’s in store for 2012-2013

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EAC-BC chair Peter Moskos talks about what’s in store for the coming year: West Coast Editor moves online; programs and professional development committees announce their monthly-meeting and Saturday-seminar programs; PR Committee shares its plans for fall 2012; changes to branch executive; Iva Cheung wins Tom Fairley Award.

Back in 2002, when I still lived in Ottawa, I came to Vancouver to lead workshops for Douglas College and EAC-BC. At that time, I first saw an issue of West Coast Editor (WCE). I was so impressed that I asked the wonderful Jean Lawrence, then BC Branch administrator, to put me on the WCE mailing list. Ever since then, I’ve been a faithful reader. By the time I moved to Vancouver, Cheryl Hannah, with the help of Hugh Macdonald, had taken over and elevated WCE to a true magazine. With beautiful layouts, themed issues, terrific articles, great photos, and important BC-centric editing news, WCE had become, without question, the best of all EAC branch organs. As a member of the BC Branch, I couldn’t have been more proud.

West Coast Editor moves online

If you’re reading this article, then you know that WCE has taken another giant leap forward. With this issue, it has moved online. Once again, the driving force is Cheryl Hannah. She realized that producing WCE as a paper publication formatted in Adobe InDesign was too labour intensive to sustain as a volunteer effort for much longer.

But as a Web publication, it can be produced in fewer hours without losing the qualities that have made it an outstanding print publication. Watch for email notices each month telling you when new content is waiting for you online.

EAC-BC monthly meetings: exciting program

A newly revamped WCE is not the only thing that we have to look forward to this year—we have an exciting program of monthly meetings. Iva Cheung and Frances Peck have joined Micheline Brodeur on the Programs Committee, and this dynamic team has come up with presentation topics that include ebooks, forensic linguistics, subcontracting, and editing books in translation.

The first monthly meeting of our 2012-2013 year starts on Wednesday, September 19, at 19h00, with a Learn From My Fail reception. During the evening, you’ll be encouraged to tweet your most memorable “editing lessons learned”—using hash tag #LFMF. The Twitter feed will be displayed for us all to read as we enjoy wine, cheese, nibbles, and good conversation.

EAC-BC Saturday seminars: returning favourites and new topics

The Professional Development Committee, chaired by Tina Robinson and Eva van Emden, also has an exciting program planned. On September 22, 2012, Ruth Wilson will be leading her popular Advanced Proofreading seminar, and on October 27, 2012, Yvonne Van Ruskenveld will be leading her equally popular Structural + Stylistic = Substantive Editing seminar. Both seminars offer fundamental training that every editor needs.

For the spring-seminar series, Tina and Eva are looking at a range of possible topics, including editing fiction; ethics and copyright; and estimating and proposal writing. Keep an eye on WCE for updates.

Public Relations: Word on the Street and Blue Pencil

Thanks to PR chair Jessica Lowdon, our publicity program is off to a good start. We’ll be at Word on the Street on September 30, 2012, in downtown Vancouver. Stop by our table at Library Square between 10h00 and 17h00 to learn how you can help raise the profile of EAC-BC editors. Jessica is also hard at work planning a Blue Pencil event, where fiction and narrative writers submit their work to EAC-BC editors for critique. Once again, keep an eye on WCE for updates.

Changes to branch executive

We’ve had three more changes to our branch executive this year: Stefania Alexandru has taken over from David Harrison as branch secretary (David is now on the national executive council), Dee Noble has taken over from Carey Ditmars as membership chair, and Eve Rickert has taken over from Barbara Dominik as branch treasurer.

Iva Cheung wins Tom Fairley Award

There is one other BC Branch honour that I must mention. Iva Cheung won the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence for her work on Cow: A Bovine Biography (2011). Iva joins a long tradition of BC winners of the prestigious award, and it’s great to know that editorial excellence continues to thrive in our province.

With our dynamic branch executive in charge, we have an exciting year coming up. Make sure that you’re part of it.

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EVENT LISTINGS: October 2012

Do you have an event planned (or know of one) that you’d like to appear in these listings? Send us the details.

October 13, 2012: International Plain Language Day

Are you a Plain Language advocate? Mark your calendar for October 13, 2012, the date of the International Plain Language Day virtual conference. Several Canadian-based organizations are planning online events to mark the day. See online program.

  • Location: online

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October 16–21, 2012: The Vancouver Writers Fest

This year marks the 25th anniversary of The Vancouver Writers Fest, a great reason to purchase tickets to attend readings by your favourite local, national, or international authors. As always, Writers Fest needs volunteers to help stage the six-day festival. If you can help, fill out this online registration form.

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October 17, 2012: EAC-BC meeting: What Editors Need to Know about ebooks

What goes into making an ebook, and what do editors need to know about it? Find out at EAC-BC’s October 2012 meeting.

At the meeting, speaker Lara Smith will review different ebook formats and the kinds of content best suited to each, discuss different conversion methods, and compare in-house and conversion-service workflows.

She will also:

  • review a typical conversion and explain what kind of work is required after export, particularly to accommodate various e-reading devices,
  • review the inside of an EPUB file and metadata requirements,
  • discuss digital rights management options,
  • discuss how deciding to produce an ebook can affect the editing process.

About the speaker: Lara Smith is the print and digital coordinator at D&M Publishers, where she focuses on production for print-on-demand and ebook conversions. She is fluent in traditional and digital printing technologies, passionate about workflow, and amazed at how fast the digital world is evolving.

  • Time: 19h00–21h00
  • Cost: free for EAC members; $10 for non-members; $5 for students with valid ID
  • Location: YWCA on Hornby, 535 Hornby Street, Welch Room, 4th floor, Vancouver
  • Registration: at the door

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October 19, 2012: Planet Earth Poetry Reading Series

Love poetry? Live in Victoria? Check out one of the Planet Earth Poetry readings, held each Friday, September through May. The readings are billed as a “launching pad for the energies of writers and poets established and not” and as a place where “all manner of poets and writers are welcome; a place for excellence, innovation, collaboration, diverse projects and experiments.”

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October 19–21, 2012: Surrey International Writers’ Conference

The Surrey International Writers’ Conference attracts authors, editors, and agents from across North America. Once again, EAC-BC will be providing editors for the popular editor/agent/producer interviews; if you’d like to be considered, please contact PR chair Jessica Lowdon.

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October 20, 2012: PEAVI seminar: Advanced Proofreading

This exercise-based seminar, hosted by the Professional Editors Association of Vancouver Island, will be helpful to you if you wish to advance your proofreading skills, prepare for job advancement, or study for EAC’s proofreading certification test this fall.

Course material will be supplied, but you should bring a current dictionary, pencils and pens, a calculator, and a ruler or other measure that you now use on the job.

This seminar will focus on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills, offering you the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and to learn how to fine-tune your proofreading eye to catch every error. With documents ranging from recipes to journal articles, you will be challenged to use your judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all.

Instructor Ruth Wilson will spend time discussing the process a proofreader must follow when part of a larger production team. She will also provide examples of process checklists from publishers and organizations.

About the instructor: Ruth Wilson has more than 25 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 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. In 2011 she was honoured as a recipient of EAC’s President’s Award for Volunteer Service.

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October 26, 2012: Planet Earth Poetry Reading Series

Love poetry? Live in Victoria? Check out one of the Planet Earth Poetry readings, held each Friday, September through May. The readings are billed as a “launching pad for the energies of writers and poets established and not” and as a place where “all manner of poets and writers are welcome; a place for excellence, innovation, collaboration, diverse projects and experiments.”

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October 27, 2012: EAC-BC seminar: Structural + Stylistic = Substantive Editing

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.

In this seminar, instructor Yvonne Van Ruskenveld will discuss techniques for assessing non-fiction manuscripts, identifying problem areas, creating solutions, and working with authors. Whether you edit newsletter articles or full-length books, you will learn strategies and techniques that can enhance your substantive editing skills.

Here’s what people who attended this seminar in March 2012 had to say:

  • “Yvonne was a fantastic speaker—very practical with a great sense of humour.”
  • “Well organized, well paced, offered opportunities to practice and to ask questions.”
  • “Felt confident I was getting solid info.”
  • “A nice mix of discussion, lecture, and hands-on material.”

About the instructor: Yvonne is an experienced editor and writer who enjoys transforming sprawling, jumbled manuscripts into interesting, readable publications. She 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 is a partner in West Coast Editorial Associates.

  • Time: 9h00–16h00
  • Cost: $120 for EAC members who register by October 5, 2012 (after: $140); $180 for non-members who register by October 5, 2012 (after: $200)
  • Location: SFU Vancouver, 515 West Hastings Street, 2925 Hemlock Printers seminar room, Vancouver
  • Registration

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Changes to EAC-BC seminars: pricing and scheduling

FROM: Tina Robinson and Eva van Emden, professional development co-chairs

As we head into the fall, we’re looking forward to another season of great seminars. To start off, we’re offering another chance at two seminars that sold out last year: Advanced Proofreading in September 2012 and Stylistic + Structural = Substantive Editing in October 2012. We’re working on a schedule of seminars for the rest of the 2012–2013 year, which we will announce soon.

This year, we are making a couple of changes to the way we run seminars.

  • Seminars will be one hour longer, running from 9h00 to 16h00. Seminar participants and instructors told us that it was hard to fit the course material into our old schedule. Adding an hour will let the instructors teach a more complete course at a more relaxed pace.
  • The cost of seminar registration will go up $20 to $120/$140 for members and $180/$200 for non-members (early bird/regular). Fees for half-day seminars will be half the full-day fee. The earlier start means that the per-hour cost of attending is almost the same, but raising fees means that we can pay our presenters more and offer partial compensation for their travel costs. We also expect to attract a wider range of presenters. Our registration fees, which haven’t gone up since 2008, are still lower than other EAC seminars across Canada.

If you have questions or feedback about these changes, please contact us.

—Tina and Eva

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Editor pens press release in style of King James Bible

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The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt, 1633 (or possibly, the Bowen Island ferry).

TO: West Coast Editor

FROM: David Harrison

Earlier this year, I attended an EAC-BC stylistic-editing seminar. I enjoyed the writing exercises, especially one requiring each of us to write a press release announcing that the next sailing of the Bowen Island ferry would be cancelled due to bad weather. We were given several styles to choose from, including that of Jane Austen and the King James Bible. I chose King James …

—David

CHAPTER I
A message comes down from on High to the waiting hordes, &c.

AND an Herald came down from on High to the fearful crowds, assembled by the boats on the shore of the Salish Sea.

2 O ye of little faith! saith the Herald. Ye, who dwelleth in the dank wildernesses of Bowen Island, who yearn to see the nether reaches of the Salish Sea: hearken now unto the voice of those who go down to the sea in ships and occupy their business in great waters!

3 Behold, as this day dawned, there arose a great tempest, insomuch that the ships were covered with waves: and the sea captains were sore afraid.

4 But the wind abateth not.

5 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and they who prophesy about such things hear the sound thereof but cannot tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.

6 It is enough, saith He: we have given up the ghost: verily, the peoples that live in the Land of Cristy shall not set forth upon the seas this day.

7 We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry, quoth the Herald.

8 And there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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