About me
After working with me, writers publish their work with confidence because I use my skills, education, and work experience to edit their work to a high level of satisfaction. A happy writer means a happy editor.
Mission and values
My editorial mission is to collaborate with you honestly and respectfully to help you present your work in the best possible light. Your work should be memorable for the right reasons, enhancing your credibility and positioning you as an expert.
I am reliable, tenacious, thorough and aim for a high level of excellence for my clients.
A bit more about me
How I got from There to Here
All my life, it’s always been about words, their meaning, their place in the world and how they live on in books. Working with words is my home; my place of happiness and when I am most content.
My journey to becoming an editor was full of unexpected twists, false starts, strange turns and a good dollop of serendipity. So how did I get here?
Go outside!
As a child, I was a voracious reader who had to be told to go outside, get some fresh air and play in the hot African sun. That was before people knew how bad the sun really was. I was certainly ahead of my time in avoiding too much sunlight. To feed my reading addiction, I begged for books for my birthdays and specialized in always belonging to more than one library. The highlight of school holiday visits to my grandfather was the access to a bigger public library with a much better collection. And an indulgent grandfather who never said no to driving me to the big library.
From bookworm to lawyer to writer to bookseller to librarian to … editor.
As I got older, my mother noted my reading mileage and decided that I was an excellent candidate for law study. Despite the uncertainty of my suitability for the job, the prospect of access to a vast collection of books excited me. A library with four floors and a basement! Yes, I realise that is quite small by international standards, but it took my breath away at the time. The books I read during those grueling years at university and while working as a lawyer hold many of my fondest memories. During those years, there was also a stint as a bookseller, a short-lived attempt at journalism and a fling with writing a book.
Years later, I moved to New Zealand, changed careers and did a master’s degree to become a librarian. Working with books and fellow adorers of the written word was a dream come true. However, this was still not quite the thing I wanted to do, so I jumped in and became an editor.
Being an editor
As a lifelong reader, language lover and lawyer-turned-librarian-turned-editor, I am well-placed to help you make your writing as good as it can be.
I made sure that I would be the best editor I could possibly be by completing editing courses with a variety of reputable training institutions in different countries. This provided exposure and insight into editing practices for audiences in those places. My studies included courses in:
- Academic editing (Australia)
- Line/Stylistic editing (Canada)
- Advanced Copyediting practicum (USA)
- Introduction to copyediting and proofreading (USA)
- Introduction to Fact-checking (USA)
- Word Macros for editing (Australia)
- Web editing (UK).
To sharpen my skills further, I regularly take part in shorter specialty editing courses and professional development offered to members of various freelance editing organisations. I am a professional member of the Institute of professional Editors Limited (IPEd) in Australia (New Zealand branch) and the Editorial Freelance Association (EFA) in the USA. My membership in these valued editing associations shows my commitment to the editing profession and its professional standards. Membership benefits also include access to advice and mentorship from a community of more experienced editors.
Want to know more about how I can help? Have a look here.
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