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As some of you may know, I am taking a hiatus from editing this spring, as I'm expecting my first baby to arrive any day now. Although this pregnancy has been no fairy tale – thanks mostly to many months of morning sickness – the past nine months have nonetheless turned out to have quite a literary theme. I've spent this time editing books here at TEC, working...
Read MoreAn editor is an expert at revising collections of written words. In fact, one French term for editor is "réviseur. " As a professional editor, revising someone else's text is part of my job. But as a writer, I love revising my own work, and all writers should learn to do this. The American journalist Ambrose Bierce said that a saint was a just sinner who had been...
Read MoreWhile drafting the February edition of the TEC newsletter, I found myself flipping through Beth's collection of Editorial Eye back issues, searching for inspiration for our monthly Editors' Tip. I came across an interesting article on transition usage, and there was just too much useful information to fit into one newsletter tip. So, I decided to include the rest of the information in a blog, especially since transitions...
Read MoreThe Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established on June 1, 2008, issued its final report on December 15, 2015. In over two thousand pages of text (plus hundreds of pages of notes and references), it documents the horrors of Canada's residential school system. The report is, to put it mildly, a very tough read. To read even more than a few pages of it is a crushing experience....
Read MoreWhen reading a document, there are any number of writing errors or distractions that can take you out of the moment and interrupt the flow of your reading. The error I will discuss today is word repetition: how it occurs, and, more importantly, how to avoid it. Read It Out Loud You may have the memory of former teachers or professors scrawling "Word rep!" on your essays, papers, and reports...
Read MoreHappy 2016! The end of the year allowed us to take some time to rest, relax, and recharge. We hope your holidays were great and, like us, you are now getting back into the swing of things. December marked the publication of our first Academic Newsletter, which contains resources, calls for papers, and a list of our most recent projects, specifically tailored to our academic clients. Look...
Read MoreBelow are a few of the most common punctuation-related errors or inconsistencies that we see here at TEC. Here is what you need to keep in mind to help keep your prose correct and consistent! . ...
Read MoreTriptych: From the Greek adjective meaning "three-fold": tri = three, ptysso = to fold, or ptyx = fold. Usually a panel painting that is divided into three sections and hinged together to be folded shut or displayed open. The middle panel is typically the largest and is flanked by two smaller related works, although there are triptychs of equal-sized panels. Margaret Atwood (MA) has been a...
Read MoreThe holiday season is like a mercifully distant relative who visits only once a year; I am always glad to see her arrive and always gladder to see her go. Now she is indeed gone, leaving behind bloated waistlines, glassy eyes, and pounding heads. And about time, I say. Good riddance to archaic holiday language until next year. How do you troll a Yuletide carol anyway?...
Read MoreIf you're anything like me, you're likely still scrambling around the city and braving the inevitable crowds in search of the perfect gifts for the people on your list. Having trouble narrowing down a gift for the editorial freelancer in your life who seems to have just about everything? Not to worry—I’ve got you covered. Any item on the following list is sure to please even the nit-pickiest...
Read MoreThough winter is not officially upon us until December 22, colder temperatures and frost-laden lawns have already been making appearances in Toronto. This fall has been a busy one here at TEC, and we are looking forward to celebrating our hard work with a Pizza and Prosecco Party during the holiday season. (One bottle of Prosecco is well chilled from the National Boss Day gifting. ) Alanna took advantage...
Read MoreHere at TEC, we receive calls from potential clients who are new to the writing process. The usual questions are about our services and rates, and about the work we do. In explaining what we do, we naturally ask the caller about their projects. Since we only work on nonfiction content, this is important for us to know. We have noted with some curiosity a rather...
Read MoreThe original drafts of a novel create its structure and determine how the story will unfold. The years and years of editing that follow infuse the book with character, crafting it into the best possible version of itself. And the final edit, when you know in your gut that you are finally done, gives the writing its shine. At least that's how it appears to me, having...
Read MoreI recently had the pleasure of chatting with Ruth Hood, who looks back on a long life of editing and library science. I asked her to tell me about some of the highlights of her dual careers. As with many lovers of language, her attraction to books began at an early age and was nurtured at home. “I was always attracted to books,” Ruth told me. “My...
Read MoreNo Canadian poets were mentioned in any of my high school English classes, and I’m certain that most of my hometown friends would be hard-pressed to rattle off the names of even two or three. They are not, however, entirely to blame: Their interests lie elsewhere, perhaps as a result of our shared high school experience, which did little to foster the consumption of Canadian literature, let alone Canadian...
Read MoreInside the Big Bookseller In preparation for the upcoming (and costly!) holiday season, I recently picked up a part-time gig at Indigo. After all, I figured, if I'm going to venture back into retail, where I'd spent most of my summers as a teen, I may as well surround myself with what I love most—books! I've learned a few interesting things about big booksellers during my time at Indigo. One...
Read MoreAh, reference books! What would we do without them? Whether lined up in neat rows on library shelves or haphazardly stacked on, under, or somewhere near a cluttered desk, they hold glorious promise: more knowledge than we could ever hope to absorb, systematically arranged, and clearly explained. There are encyclopaedias, thesauruses, almanacs, yearbooks, atlases, chronologies, concordances, and digests. And let's not forget repair manuals, phone directories, and...
Read MoreThe hype generated around the release of Harper Lee’s Go Set A Watchman (HarperCollins, 2015) made many of us want to read this book. After all, it was Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, a classic in our own time. We, at TEC, were enthusiastic. We bought two copies: one for us to read in-office and one for the first of our Twitter Giveaways. ...
Read MoreWe loved this blog when Nina first created it back in 2011. We had been discussing the challenges of texting for editors. The writing of the message on smartphone technology was fast. The keyboard was much smaller. The focus was on hitting the keys in an effort to get things right. But what if you made a mistake and only caught it after the entire...
Read MoreIt's safe to say that e-books are here to stay, and it's becoming clear that, contrary to warnings we all heard a few years ago, they aren't bringing on the "death of print books. " Quite the contrary, actually. The New York Times recently published an article about how e-book sales are actually declining—seems like the "digital apocalypse" won't be arriving after all. As well, e-book technology has been...
Read MoreOffice Happenings / Social Media & Community
Fall has definitely arrived on this post-Thanksgiving Monday … wind, rain, and turning leaves … at least here in Toronto. And lots has happened since our last update. This August/September marked the start of Year 8 for The Editing Company. Congratulations to our dynamic editing team for reaching this milestone! We celebrated our anniversary over a delicious dinner at Pizzeria Via Mercanti in early September. TEC is...
Read MoreOn September 28, musician, academic, and activist Wab Kinew addressed a full house at the Toronto Reference Library’s Bluma Appel Salon. The event was part of the salon’s (free!) ongoing program in which “writers, thinkers, artists and innovators from around the world gather for conversation and debate. ” The CBC’s Carol Off interviewed Kinew about his new memoir, The Reason You Walk. He describes the book as...
Read MoreOn Sunday September 27 at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, the 26th edition of The Word On The Street once again brought together the people who create books and the people who love to read them. AN ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE WRITTEN WORD More than just a book fair, WOTS is a countrywide celebration of the written word in all its forms: reading, writing, publishing, editing, and even book-binding. Parallel...
Read MoreMany people don't realize that when they decide to have their manuscript turned into an eBook, they have to choose one of two layout options: fixed or standard layout. This decision can depend on a number of factors, including: the type or genre of book, the level of control the author wants over the design experience, and the level of accessibility desired for the book. In this blog,...
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