Earlier this week, my publisher contacted me with a unique opportunity. A 16-year old fan had contacted him, stating they were a big fan. They wondered if someone at Prose Se would be willing to look at their short story.
Tommy (head of Pro Se) told me that he'd had several writers fail to deliver, usually not even getting back to the young writer. So he came to me with it. Well, this was my last stress leave week away from work, so I thought, what the hell? I had time.
Honestly? I really enjoyed the story. The kid has a better grasp of the basics of writing than I did at his age. It was still rough around the edges, so I made a number of suggested edits and sent it back. The strange thing is, I found myself really enjoying not just the story, but the editing process.
During the final edits on The Dame was a Tad Polish, I found this great book: Editor-Proof Your Writing, by Don McNair. His suggestions became invaluable in my editing. When I was done, I truly think my new book was better than ever.
It made me think...could I do that for a living? I certainly enjoy learning new writing techniques to improve my own writing. However, I don't really have much formal education or experience in editing. Plus, I still have much to learn. So now I'm wondering what sort of education I could pursue.
One track I'm considering is Journalism. In fact, Halifax has a college known incredibly well for its Journalism program: King's College. Here's the program's main page. Even better, they have a shorter track option with a one-year bachelor program for students like myself who already have an undergraduate degree.
I don't know. What do you guys think?
Tommy (head of Pro Se) told me that he'd had several writers fail to deliver, usually not even getting back to the young writer. So he came to me with it. Well, this was my last stress leave week away from work, so I thought, what the hell? I had time.
Honestly? I really enjoyed the story. The kid has a better grasp of the basics of writing than I did at his age. It was still rough around the edges, so I made a number of suggested edits and sent it back. The strange thing is, I found myself really enjoying not just the story, but the editing process.
During the final edits on The Dame was a Tad Polish, I found this great book: Editor-Proof Your Writing, by Don McNair. His suggestions became invaluable in my editing. When I was done, I truly think my new book was better than ever.
It made me think...could I do that for a living? I certainly enjoy learning new writing techniques to improve my own writing. However, I don't really have much formal education or experience in editing. Plus, I still have much to learn. So now I'm wondering what sort of education I could pursue.
One track I'm considering is Journalism. In fact, Halifax has a college known incredibly well for its Journalism program: King's College. Here's the program's main page. Even better, they have a shorter track option with a one-year bachelor program for students like myself who already have an undergraduate degree.
I don't know. What do you guys think?
Sadly, doing it as a job as opposed to doing it occasionally are different things - there's more pressure to go fast, there's little time for reflection or enjoyment. Plus, more and more of it's being automated. While no simple spell checker and grammar assistant will ever replace real, proper editing, it's becoming more and more common, especially with better software and in cheaper product ranges. We've long past the time where watch manuals were illegible gibberish translated from Japanese through Portuguese to English with a dictionary.
