Apparently, talking to me is ‘enriching’!
I’ve just come off a Zoom call with the student newspaper group at Notre Dame College in Leeds.
I was invited along to talk about my job as an editor. What I really wanted to do was to set my job in context and to show the Year 12s the range of options available to them in the publishing industry – because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had no clue about the careers open to me as a bookish 17-year-old.
My path was English GCSE and A level, English at uni, then English teaching, and it was only when I was in my mid-30s that I thought about other things I could do with my skills. (And please note that this required retraining. I didn’t go straight from one career to the other.)
So, yes, I talked to the students about proofreading and copy editing, but I also spoke about the other elements involved in getting a story out of someone’s head and into the hands of a reader.
I talked about production editors and marketing teams and developmental edits and book covers and typesetters, and all the other things you can do in the book world, whether or not you know where the commas should go.
And when I was signing off, their tutor (my former colleague) said to the class: “You can put this down on your UCAS form as an enrichment activity!” (Ha ha, Roz, yep I heard you!)
Well, do you know what, it was enriching for me too. I like a balance between time spent editing and time spent chatting. That’s why these days I’ve built a flexible schedule so that I can offer talks to groups, 1-to-1 power hours, and coaching around my edits.
To illustrate this post, rather than a Zoom screenshot (you’ve seen enough of them!) I’ll provide a throwback picture. I taught for 18 years. Here’s me in full flow back in 2012. Though I’ve recently realised that my longest stint (at a school in Cumbria) is now matched by my time spent in editing – six years and four months. Next month, I’ll have spent longer at Cherry Edits than I spent at any one school. So that’s kind of cool. Second career for the win!
For anyone doing the maths, there were four years where I did both side-by-side. I’m 42 next month (!) so doesn’t that mean I’ll have the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? Surely that’s a sign you should get your book edited by me. I’ll be all-knowing.
Well, that was a journey! Meandering, much?
Interested in learning more about my editing services or booking a power hour? Let’s chat!
#CherryEdits #LineEditing #CopyEditing #Proofreading #Coaching #PowerHours #ManuscriptAssessments #Courses #Webinars #TalksToAuthorGroups – and all that good stuff.
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