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5 tips to having a priceless internship
by Celina Fazio
Photo by Nicole Honeywill on Unsplash
As a student in Ryerson’s publishing program, I have been told by people working in the industry that an editorial internship is an essential learning opportunity for anyone looking to secure an editorial position at a publishing house. As a result, I applied and interviewed for multiple editorial internships—both at major and “indie” publishers—before I landed one at a major publishing house. Though I had previously done a sales and marketing internship, I pursued an editorial internship because I had an interest in editing and relished the idea of working on books. So when I received the offer earlier this year, I happily accepted. I recently completed my internship, and I can confidently say that the advice is true: The experience was a great learning opportunity and reaffirmed my desire to work in the editorial field. I would highly recommend it to anyone considering pursuing an editorial internship.
So, if you are considering an editorial internship or are about to begin one, here are five pieces of advice I can offer:
From Screen to Page and Back: In Conversation with Zoe Whittall and Wiebke von Carolsfeld
Tuesday, September 24, 7:30–9:30 pm
Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building, 144 College St., Room B150, Toronto
Map: http://map.utoronto.ca/building/161
Co-presented by Editors Toronto, Canadian Authors–Toronto, and the Creative Writing Program at the School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto (UofT).
Our first joint program meeting of the 2019–20 season will feature a conversation about books and movies with two of the brightest lights in Canadian film, TV, and book publishing. Multiple award-winning writer Zoe Whittall and renowned film editor, director, and now novelist Wiebke von Carolsfeld will read from their novels, show clips from their film and TV work, and share stories about what it’s like to write, edit, and be edited across different media.
Have you ever wondered how some writers manage to do it all, publishing novels, stories, and sometimes poetry, while also writing, directing, or editing for film and TV? What kind of versatility, skills, and industry knowledge are required to move fluidly between page and screen? What can writers, filmmakers, and editors learn from those who thrive on such border crossings? Zoe and Wiebke will address these and other questions in a wide-ranging discussion moderated by writer, editor, and arts critic Lee Parpart, whose career has taken her from newspapers to film studies classrooms and hybrid publishing.
Admission is FREE for members of Canadian Authors–Toronto, members of Editors Toronto, and students and affiliates of the Creative Writing Program at the School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto. General admission is $10 ($5 for students).
Editor for Life: Alana Chalmers, editorial consultant, Bell Canada
Interview conducted by Adrineh Der-Boghossian
A career as an editor is often a solo adventure, especially if you’re a freelancer. So we thought one way to better connect with fellow editors was to ask them the W5: who, what, where, when, and why. Read on for some thought-provoking, enlightening tidbits from those of us who choose to work with words to earn our keep.
Photo credit: James Harbeck
Please tell us a little about yourself, the kind of work you do (and where you live), and how long you’ve been an editor.
I’m an editorial consultant at Bell Canada and my job is a mix of editing and consulting on document design. Editing people who have to write for their job is different from editing writers and it comes with some interesting challenges. I have to be extra careful of how I give feedback and part of my job is educating the team on clear communication.
I’ve been an editor for about eight years. I live in Toronto with zero cats but two kids who sometimes pretend to be cats.
Editor for Life: Jess Shulman, owner of Jess Shulman Editorial
Interview conducted by Adrineh Der-Boghossian.
A career as an editor is often a solo adventure, especially if you’re a freelancer. So we thought one way to better connect with fellow editors was to ask them the W5: who, what, where, when, and why. Read on for some thought-provoking, enlightening tidbits from those of us who choose to work with words to earn our keep.
Please tell us a little about yourself, the kind of work you do (and where you live), and how long you’ve been an editor.
I spent 17 years at major international corporations, doing sales, process improvement, proposal writing and communications. Those last two involved a lot of editing over a decade, and eventually I took the leap (and studied hard) and tackled Editors Canada’s Certification exams. I earned my CPE, and that gave me the confidence to finally leave the corporate world and start a freelance editorial business in 2016.
I like to keep my options way open, both in the types of editing I do and in the topic areas I work on. I mostly do copy editing, stylistic editing, and proofreading, working on novels, trade non-fiction, textbooks, and all kinds of corporate materials. For indie authors, I also offer a quite detailed substantive manuscript-evaluation service. For my corporate clients, I do quite a bit of writing—web copy, social media posts, marketing materials, articles, reports. Never a dull day at Jess Shulman Editorial! I live in Toronto with my husband, two kids and, of course, a cat.
Just for reference
by James Harbeck
Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash
If you edit academic books or articles, you probably spend a lot of time tidying up references. Sometimes as much time as editing the entire rest of the text. First, you have to pick your style: Chicago (note or name-date), MLA, APA, or, in the sciences, AMA or Vancouver. Then, you have to make everything consistent with it, to the extent possible. On top of that, you may have to look up the sources to double-check them.
I’ve edited medical continuing-education presentations that had no bibliographies and would cite some sources as just, for instance, “Heinz & Wong 2013.” I would have to find the rest of the citation—and I would, nearly every time, with a single search. Which means that anyone else who wanted to know would also be able to find it as quickly. Our citation standards were developed before the wonderful world of high-powered search engines. If we can find the source from an incomplete or inaccurate citation, how much of this tidying up is necessary?
Now, yes, there are more reasons than just findability to give detailed and consistent bibliographic information. You want to be tidy. You want readers not to have to spend undue time and effort: “Wasting our time so that readers don’t have to waste theirs” is in the editor’s job description. You want to give credit where it is due, and accurately. And you don’t want any risk of ambiguity—you don’t want people flipping fruitlessly through the wrong edition, for instance.
But still. Not all standard parts of a bibliographic citation are truly necessary. Here are several things some styles require that we should consider just getting rid of:
Editor for Life: Alexandra Leggat, publisher and editor of Two Wolves Press
Interview conducted by Adrineh Der-Boghossian.
A career as an editor is often a solo adventure, especially if you’re a freelancer. So we thought one way to better connect with fellow editors was to ask them the W5: who, what, where, when, and why. Read on for some thought-provoking, enlightening tidbits from those of us who choose to work with words to earn our keep.
Please tell us a little about yourself, the kind of work you do (and where you live), and how long you’ve been an editor.
I live in West Hill [a neighbourhood in Toronto] with my partner, musician Cameron Watters, and my Alaskan malamute, Lupa. I am an author and an editor, a creative writing instructor, and a tutor, and I play in a band called Pineville. I’ve been editing for years. I used to be the managing editor of Write Magazine, even before the publication of my first book. As a creative writing instructor and final project supervisor at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, I have been editing students’ writing for the past 11 years. As a freelancer, I edit manuscripts for various independent clients, and two years ago I started my own small publishing house called Two Wolves Press. I am the publisher and the editor and have had the privilege of editing and publishing Aileen Santo’s debut novel Someone Like You and highly acclaimed poet Catherine Graham’s award-winning debut novel Quarry.
An evening with friends: Recap of Sound Mind: A Celebration of Mindfulness and Mental Health through Fiction, Memoir, and Music
by B.A. Tanner
On the Thursday evening of March 28, room 1050 of the Earth Sciences Centre at University of Toronto (UofT) swelled with the comforting sounds of meditative gong notes, honest conversation, and an impressive cello performance.
Sharing the stage were Ranjini George, Rebecca Higgins, and Erika Nielsen, once again bringing together Editors Toronto, Canadian Authors–Toronto, and the Creative Writing Program at the School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto (SCS–UofT), to deliver an inspirational and informative panel discussion. These three talented women used their life experiences to tackle the tough subject matter of mental health and wellness as it applies to freelance artists.
The program started with an introduction by Lee Parpart, programs chair of Editors Toronto and co-president of Canadian Authors–Toronto, then moved to the first speaker of the night: Ranjini George, who teaches courses on mindfulness, meditation, and creative writing at the SCS–UofT.
Ranjini addressed the need for freelance writers, editors, and artists to foster mental and physical well-being while they manage numerous projects with various deadlines. Referencing the stories from her 2016 book Through My Mother’s Window: Emirati Women Tell their Stories and Recipes, she talked about her own experiences working in the field of mental wellness and encouraged everyone to practise mindfulness regularly. Ranjini explained how sound can be used to help centre the self and control our continuous wave of thoughts. Treating the crowd to the sounding of the gong, combined with several moments of meditation and deep breathing, she left us with the simple but powerful reminder to “Breathe. Be present.”
Book Review: Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper
by Michelle Waitzman
Most people take dictionaries for granted. They are available to us, at home or at school, from the time we first learn to read. Those of us who work with words rely on them regularly. But few of us spend much time thinking about how a dictionary is put together and kept up to date. It’s almost as though we expect them to spring into existence, fully formed. The truth is much more complicated—and fascinating.
Kory Stamper is a lexicographer,* and her book Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at one of America’s best-known dictionary publishers: Merriam-Webster. Sound boring? It’s not! Stamper takes us on a memorable journey through the ways in which the English language has evolved (and continues to evolve), the lengths that lexicographers go to in order to describe current usage, and the backlash that can result from a seemingly innocuous definition.
Each of the book’s chapters is named for a word chosen to illustrate the topic of that chapter. For example, the “Irregardless” chapter is about words that many people argue are not “real” words at all; the “Take” chapter discusses the challenges of defining small words that are used in a multitude of ways; and the “Nuclear” chapter is about differences in pronunciation.
