by Nancy Flight
Editors and writers across the country were saddened to learn of the death of long-time EAC member John Eerkes-Medrano, on June 15, at the age of 64. Born in Groningen, the Netherlands, he spent his early years in Edmonton and later worked in Toronto and then Victoria.
by Shelagh Jamieson, Communications & Social Media Chair
Volunteers needed!
EAC-BC will be participating in Word Vancouver again this year. In addition to having a booth, we will be sponsoring a one-hour panel discussion on editing as a career. We need 4–5 volunteers to sit on the panel. We are looking for editors working in diverse fields and environments: freelance, in-house, traditional and self-publishing, academic, corporate, government, etc. Whatever your area of specialization, if you are comfortable talking about what you do and how you came to be there, and then answering some questions from the public, please contact bccsm@editors.ca by July 8, 2015. Please include a brief description of the kind of editing you do, to help us with the selection process.
The event will take place on Sunday, September 27 (time TBD), at the Vancouver Public Library downtown. This is a great opportunity to encourage people to consider a career in editing and to join EAC. You will also benefit from the chance to network, meet potential clients, have some fun, and check out Word Vancouver.
Word Vancouver is Western Canada’s largest celebration of literacy and reading. The festival promotes books and authors with workshops, free exhibits, performances, and hands-on activities for a wide range of ages and interests. More info on Word Vancouver is available at wordvancouver.ca.
EAC-BC is a volunteer-based organization, and without your help, we can’t promote our craft. Please consider volunteering an hour of your time at this popular event.
On April 25, EAC-BC co-hosted PubPro 2015, an unconference for managing editors and publication production specialists. We previously featured a recap of the event and part 1 of the session summaries. Part 2 of the session summaries follows.
Written by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Meagan Kus
Chantal Moore is communications manager at the BC Council for International Education, a Crown corporation that facilitates international student exchanges. She was interested in discussing best practices for managing change.
Written by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Karen Barry
Recap of EAC-BC’s branch meeting on April 15, 2015.
Last month, Kelly Maxwell spoke to EAC members and guests about the fascinating world of transcription, captioning, and subtitling. Kelly is co-owner and co-founder of Vancouver-based Line 21 Media Services, which provides services to the television and film industry. Line 21 works primarily with post-production coordinators, who shepherd television shows and movies through editing, colour correction, and distribution.
Written by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Meagan Kus
Recap of EAC-BC’s branch meeting on March 18, 2015.
On March 18, EAC-BC hosted authors Margo Bates and Daniel Francis for a panel discussion about working with editors. Jenny Lee, a writer, editor, and digital journalist with the Vancouver Sun, moderated, adding details of her own experience and encouraging questions from the audience.
Written by Eric Damer; copy edited by Meagan Kus
Like many people who find themselves working as an editor, I grew up in a household of word enthusiasts. My father, an English teacher, methodically circled spelling and grammar errors in the local newspaper or identified errors in environmental print, but he also loved puns, spoonerisms, double-entendres, and wordplay of all sorts. Well before I turned to editing as a line of work, I knew the value of saying what you meant, and meaning what you said—unless you had a joke to tell. Now, it seems, I have difficulty turning off my error-checker for the sake of a chuckle.
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.
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.
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!
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:
Her website and SFU profile give detailed information on her research.
