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Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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September 30, 2017: SEO for Editors

What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, September 30, 2017, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Room 820, 8th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $165 for Editors Canada members ($135 early bird), $230 for non-members ($200 early bird), and $100 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes September 26; early-bird rates are in effect through September 8.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, encompasses a wide variety of tactics designed to improve a site’s ranking in search results. Ensuring web content ranks high in a Google search is one of the best ways for website owners to drive traffic and potential customers to their site. Web editors can play an instrumental role in optimizing content for better search rankings, both on their own site and for web-based client projects.

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Meet Our Volunteers!

By Amy Haagsma and Maggie Clark

Behind Editors BC’s programming is a team of amazing volunteers who make it all happen. Our volunteers put on our branch meetings and professional development seminars and support our participation in blue pencil sessions and events like Word Vancouver. We would like to express a heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributes to our branch and tell you a little about the people behind the scenes.

Unsurprisingly, most of our volunteers love to read, with 80% preferring fiction and 20% choosing non-fiction. Collectively, our favourite genres are literary fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, with an honourable mention for mystery/thriller. We may be a little too fond of the semicolon, with 37% of us choosing this pleasing symbol as our favourite punctuation mark. As Emma Caplan says, “I often use the semicolon; it is quite useful.” We have similar feelings about proofreading marks, with 33% of us choosing the delete symbol as our number one. Also mentioned were the caret and the transpose symbol, with the latter noted for the enjoyment of “drawing that fun little curve.” Chocolate ranked high among our guilty pleasures, and most of us are quite content with where we live, choosing a location in BC as our favourite place in Canada.

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Event Review: The Secrets of Syntax by Frances Peck

Written by Eva van Emden; copy edited by Rebecca A. Coates

On April 22, a roomful of editors got together to talk about syntax—the order of words in a sentence. This may seem like an obscure topic to spend a day thinking about, but consider how many memorable sayings stick in your mind because of a magic combination of word order, rhythm, and repetition. Would we be able to quote the sentence “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” if it didn’t use rhythm and repetition—syntactic elements—so effectively?

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May 17, 2017: Season-End Wine and Cheese, Executive Elections, and Book Swap

What: Editors BC monthly meeting
When: Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 7:00 pm (elections begin at 7:30 pm)
Where: Welch Room, 4th floor, YWCA Health + Fitness Centre, 535 Hornby Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: Free for Editors Canada members, non-members, and student affiliates

Summer is coming! Join us in winding down the Editors BC 2016–17 season with a wine and cheese social. We’ll also be electing members of next year’s executive (see below for more information) and having a book swap! Bring along any books you’re finished with and exchange them for others at the book exchange table. Summer reading, here we come!

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Introducing editorsbc.blog!

West Coast Editor has joined the .blog community! Please visit our new site at editorsbc.blog, and subscribe to receive updates using the form at the bottom of the sidebar (see the screenshot to the right for details; click to enlarge).

Important: please note that if you were previously subscribed to westcoasteditor.com, you will need to resubscribe to editorsbc.blog. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Please contact Amy Haagsma with any questions.

Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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May 27, 2017: Literary Architecture: Structurally Editing Fiction

What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, May 27, 2017, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Room 810, 8th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $165 for Editors Canada members ($135 early bird), $230 for non-members ($200 early bird), and $100 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes May 19; early-bird rates are in effect through May 5.

Sometimes we imagine fiction as arriving at the publisher in a near-perfect form, ready for publishing. In fact, fiction undergoes as rigorous an edit as non-fiction, and often is signed more for its potential than its readiness. Respecting the originality of the author’s voice and work, while still serving all parties with a sensitive critique, is a delicate balance.

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April 19, 2017: Revitalizing Indigenous languages

What: Editors BC monthly meeting
When: Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 7:00 pm (program begins at 7:30 pm)
Where: Welch Room, 4th floor, YWCA Health + Fitness Centre, 535 Hornby Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: Free for Editors Canada members and student affiliates, $10 for non-members, and $5 for non-member students with valid ID. Registration at the door.

Our April meeting promises to be a fascinating one as Nicki Benson of Kwi Awt Stelmexw presents an overview of Indigenous languages of British Columbia, current language revitalization initiatives and challenges, and the work of Kwi Awt Stelmexw regarding language education and place name reclamation.

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Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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April 22, 2017: The Secrets of Syntax

What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, April 22, 2017, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Room 810, 8th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $165 for Editors Canada members ($135 early bird), $230 for non-members ($200 early bird), and $100 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes April 14; early-bird rates are in effect through March 31.

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 that 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.

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Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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March 25, 2017: How to Be the Laziest Editor Possible: Maximizing the Tools in Microsoft Word

What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, March 25, 2017, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm (PC) and 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm (Mac)
Where: Room 830, 8th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $105 for Editors Canada members ($85 early bird), $170 for non-members ($150 early bird), and $70 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes March 17; early-bird rates are in effect through March 8.

On Saturday, March 25, Editors British Columbia presents two offerings of the half-day seminar “How to Be the Laziest Editor Possible: Maximizing the Tools in Microsoft Word.” The morning session (10 am to 1 pm) is for PC users and the afternoon session (2 pm to 5 pm) is for Mac users.

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