Carl Rosenberg

Meet the Instructor: Letitia Henville

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Merel Elsinga

Photo of Letitia

On Sunday, June 13, 2021, at the Editors Canada conference, Letitia Henville will host a networking session on “Developing content marketing opportunities.”

Content marketing is a long-term marketing strategy that involves giving away your knowledge for free to potential clients, and thereby establishing their trust. This session will bring together editors with shared expertise to collaborate on content marketing opportunities. It will be grounded in the ethos that editors are not in competition with one another, and that raising the profile of the profession and of Editors Canada creates more business for all of us. Participants are invited to see their fellow editors as supportive colleagues and potential collaborators—not as competition. 

Letitia is a freelance academic editor at shortishard.ca and the advice columnist behind “Ask Dr. Editor,” published monthly at University Affairs. Letitia edits grant applications for artists and academics, and also edits journal articles, book chapters, monographs, and promotion and tenure dossiers, with a special emphasis on the health sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer with Editors BC, spoke to Letitia about her forthcoming session.   

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Meet the Instructor: Lisa Manfield

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Meagan Kus

Lisa Manfield

On Saturday, March 28, Editors BC will present a full-day seminar by Lisa Manfield on how to write effective web content.

This seminar will give you an understanding of what readers want from your copy, how to apply the latest web writing best practices, and how to optimize for search. 

Lisa is a writer, editor, and content strategist with 20 years’ experience creating print and web content that engages a variety of target audiences. Currently the senior editor at Forge and Spark Media, Lisa has also been the founding editor of BCLiving and marketing manager at The Tyee. She has developed print and web content, marketing collateral, and courseware for tech companies, small businesses, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions. She also teaches web writing principles at SFU and Capilano University.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Lisa about her work and forthcoming presentation.   

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Meet the Instructor: Frances Peck

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Katie Beaton

Frances Peck

On Saturday, February 29, Editors BC will present a full-day seminar by Frances Peck on usage woes and myths. For anyone intent on preventing (not avoiding) word errors and avoiding (not preventing) usage myths, this seminar will be of great help. People attending will get an up-to-date look at some of the most misunderstood and contentious points of English usage, and identify helpful guides and other resources. 

Frances Peck is a Certified Professional Editor (Hon.) and writer who has worked with words for nearly 30 years. She has taught at the University of Ottawa, Douglas College, SFU, UBC, and dozens of organizations across Canada. She prepared the Canadian edition of The St. Martin’s Workbook, a university grammar exercise book; co-authored the popular HyperGrammar website; and wrote Peck’s English Pointers, a collection of articles and quizzes available on the Language Portal of Canada. Frances lives in North Vancouver and is a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Frances about her work and forthcoming presentation.   

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Meet the Instructor: Lana Okerlund

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Lydia du Bois

A smiling Lana Okerlund faces forward, wearing a grey cardigan, pink sweater, and silver hooped necklace.On Saturday, November 30, Editors BC presents Lana Okerlund’s professional development seminar, “Do the Work You Want (and Earn More Doing It): A Guided Strategic Retreat for Editors.”

This six-hour seminar is designed as a guided strategic retreat to help you envision your ideal editing career, understand your current situation, and develop a plan to close the gap. Through stimulating discussion and hands-on activities, you will:

  • Establish a strategic vision for your editing business or career
  • Set objectives for the clients you want to work with, the projects you want to do, the amount you want to earn, and the work practices and professional development you want to invest in
  • Figure out how to gauge your progress toward your objectives
  • Learn how to analyze information about your business or career so you can adjust or develop new strategies to meet your goals

Whether you’re an experienced editor or new to the editing world, you will come away from the seminar with a draft strategy for taking charge of your business or career so you can steer it in the direction that you want it to go. Freelance editors will find this seminar most useful, though in-house editors can also benefit from thinking about career goals in a more strategic way.

For this seminar, Lana draws on her experience as a freelance editor and as a former business consultant, when she spent nearly a decade working with clients on strategic visioning, business planning, performance measurement, and other business improvement projects. She has found tremendous value in applying these business concepts while building her own editing career. A partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, Lana edits, indexes, and writes non-fiction books and teaches editing and business writing courses.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Lana about her forthcoming seminar.

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Meet the Instructor: Ruth Wilson

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Malvika Kathpal

Photo of Ruth Wilson smiling while dressed in a dark blue jacket and light blue top and wearing a necklace.Are you ready to extend your proofreading skills beyond finding typos and knowing how to mark up copy? On Saturday, March 30, Editors BC presents a six-hour seminar by Ruth Wilson on advanced proofreading.

This exercise-based seminar focuses on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills. It offers participants the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and learn how to fine-tune their proofreading eye to catch every error. With documents ranging from recipes to journal articles, participants will be challenged to use their judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all.

This seminar will help anyone wishing to advance their proofreading skills, prepare for job advancement, or study for future offerings of the proofreading certification test given by Editors Canada. Participants should have some proofreading experience and be familiar with conventional markup. See the registration page for more details.

Ruth has more than 30 years’ experience editing and proofreading trade books, professional journals, association publications, and corporate materials. She worked for many years with Vancouver book publisher Self-Counsel Press, several as managing editor. Since 1998, she has been a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates.

Ruth leads training workshops in all aspects of editing, and for many years, was an instructor in the Writing and Communications program and the summer publishing workshops at SFU. She has also served on several national committees of Editors Canada. In 2011, she was honoured by Editors Canada as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service. In 2014, she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Hon.) for her work in developing and launching Editors Canada’s world-class certification program.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Ruth about her work on advanced proofreading.

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Meet the Instructor: Frances Peck

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Kristin Lathrop

This image displays a head shot of Frances Peck smiling.

On Saturday, February 23, Editors BC presents Frances Peck’s seminar, “Getting the Message Across: Clear Writing Tips.” So if you want to improve your ability to quickly convey a clear message to your audience, you’re in luck.


The ability to be concise when dealing with reports, briefings, emails, or any other documents is crucial for an audience to get your message. But too often that message gets buried by weak organization, unnecessary detail, abstract language, and other barriers to readability.

Whether you’re a writer or an editor, this seminar will show you how to create documents that meet readers’ needs and get the message across. Topics include writing faster and better (a four-step process); understanding what your readers want (and don’t want); highlighting your key messages; making ideas flow; and eliminating wordiness, abstractions, and jargon. (See the registration page for more details.)

Frances Peck, a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, is a writer and Certified Professional Editor (Hon.) who specializes in editing and rewriting for clarity. She has taught for the University of Ottawa, Douglas College, SFU, UBC, Editors Canada, and many public and private sector organizations. Frances wrote Peck’s English Pointers, a free collection of articles and quizzes available on the Language Portal of Canada, and is a co-author of the HyperGrammar website.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Frances about her work on writing.

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Meet the Instructor: Carolyn Redl

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Katie Beaton

This photo depicts a headshot of Carolyn Redl in a yellow and dark green top wearing a necklace and smiling warmly while holding a copy of her memoir, "A Canadian Childhood."

So, are you thinking of writing about your childhood memories? Or maybe someone has asked you to edit a childhood memoir? In either case, on Saturday, January 26, 2019, Editors BC will present a seminar just for you. This six-hour seminar on writing and editing childhood memoirs will be presented by Carolyn Redl. She will introduce memoir writing and editing, with a mix of conversational learning, hands-on training, and practising a variety of memoir writing techniques.

Throughout the day, you’ll complete exercises that will make your own childhood experiences come alive. You’ll explore ways to organize events into stories using description and dialogue. You’ll hear editing hints for developing themes, settings, and personalities associated with childhood. By the end of the day, you’ll have written a draft chapter of your memoir! Continue reading →

Meet the Instructor: Ruth Wilson

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Adrienne Munro

Photo of Ruth Wilson smiling while dressed in a dark blue jacket and light blue top and wearing a necklace.

On Saturday, October 27, Editors BC presents Ruth Wilson’s seminar on structural editing. At the end of the seminar, participants will know the following:

  • How to assess a manuscript to identify structural issues
  • How to use an outline to reveal structure
  • What questions to ask when analyzing problems
  • How to avoid over-editing and respect the writer’s work
  • How graphics and design can support structural editing decisions
  • Why diplomacy can be just as important as editorial skill
  • How to estimate how long editing will take

This seminar will help anyone wishing to advance their structural editing abilities, broaden their skills base, or study for the structural certification test offered by Editors Canada this fall. It will be most useful for participants who already have some experience and understanding of structural editing, although editors at all levels are welcome. All course materials will be supplied. See the registration page for more details.

Ruth Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience editing trade books, professional journals, association publications, and corporate materials at all levels. She first honed her structural editing skills working at Vancouver book publisher Self-Counsel Press, and since then, she has shared what she has learned, having taught substantive editing in SFU’s Writing and Communications program for 15 years, along with other skills-based courses.

Ruth is a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates and has served on several national committees of Editors Canada. In 2011, she was honoured by Editors Canada as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service, and in 2014, she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Hon.) for her work in developing and launching Editors Canada’s world-class certification program.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Ruth about her work on structural editing.

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Meet the Instructor: Jessica Somers

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Maggie Clark

Photo of Jessica Somers with long black hair smiling at the camera while dressed in a jean jacket, low-neck black top, and a number of black necklaces.

On Saturday, September 29, Editors BC presents Jessica Somers’ seminar on tax and finance for freelancers. This six-hour seminar will give an introduction to basic tax and finance issues for freelancers, including GST/HST registration, bookkeeping and record retention, and building financial stability without a salary. For editors new to freelancing, the seminar covers the basic essentials. And veteran freelancers will learn tips and tricks, have their questions answered, and clarify the details. See the registration page for more details.

Jessica Somers is a chartered professional accountant (CPA, CGA) with over 10 years of experience advising freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses in Vancouver on tax, accounting, and business process. She is the founder of Cordova Street Consulting, a new firm in Gastown, which focuses on knowledge sharing, outreach, and taking the stress and mystery out of tax. Jessica is a facilitator and session leader at the CPA Western School of Business, where she teaches the next generation of Vancouver accountants and tax advisors.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Jessica about her work on tax and finance issues for freelancers.

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Meet the Instructor: Moira White

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Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Katie Beaton

Framed by her short white hair, Moira White is smiling in this photo while wearing a long, red scarf and black shirt.

On Saturday, April 28, Editors BC presents Moira White’s seminar, “Eight-Step Editing.” This seminar breaks the editorial process down into tasks to improve the readability of an author’s written work. The eight steps are to shorten sentences, take out the trash (i.e., unnecessary phrases), deflate long words and phrases, reduce negatives, eliminate the equations (i.e., equating or linking verbs), activate the passives, lead with strength, and parade your paragraphs.

Moira White is an Ottawa-based editor, writer, and trainer with decades of experience in plain language editing, writing, and teaching for government and corporate clients. She entered the work world as a social worker and later moved into social policy with a master’s degree in the field. In both professions, she found that her organizational skills, attention to detail, and love of words pointed her in the direction of editing. Currently, she teaches writing and editing courses in Ottawa and across Canada. Moira is a past president of Editors Canada.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Moira about her work and her forthcoming seminar.

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