seminar

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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Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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November 30, 2019: Do the Work You Want (and Earn More Doing It): A Guided Strategic Retreat for Editors

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What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, November 30, 2019, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Room 481, 4th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $165 for Editors Canada members ($135 early bird), $230 for non-members ($200 early bird), and $100 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes November 26; early-bird rates are in effect through November 12.

As an editor, are you doing the work you want (or do you know what that is)? Are you satisfied with what you earn? Are you working as much, or as little, as you wish? Are you keeping up with professional standards and work practices? Do you ever have the time to properly think about these questions, let alone figure out what to do so you can say “yes!” to them?

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Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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October 26, 2019: Plain Language from Start to Finish

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What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, October 26, 2019, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Room 840, 8th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $165 for Editors Canada members ($135 early bird), $230 for non-members ($200 early bird), and $100 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes October 22; early-bird rates are in effect through October 9.

Being able to convey information clearly and succinctly is an essential skill for editors, especially those who work on documents for the public. In legal, medical, and emergency situations, having clear communication may be a matter of life or death.

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A wooden chair with a cushion on it sits next to a wooden table that has a cup of coffee, marked up papers, and a red pen on its surface.
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Event Review: Ruth Wilson’s Seminar, “Advanced Proofreading”

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Written by Nancy Tinari; copy edited by Katie Beaton

Ruth Wilson’s “Advanced Proofreading” seminar provided us with a wealth of information, tips, and exercises derived from Wilson’s decades of experience. The hours flew by as we learned, worked, and occasionally became sidetracked by those minute issues that editors love to debate.

Though the other participants and I had wildly divergent proofreading experiences, I’m confident that all of us found Wilson’s seminar to be valuable. Her material was extensive and broad enough to help near-beginners as well as those more experienced in hard copy markup, online markup, or both.

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Event Review: Editors BC’s Seminar, “Getting the Message Across: Clear Writing Tips”

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Written by Joanna Vandervlugt; copy edited by Maggie Clark

On Saturday, February 23, 2019, I attended Frances Peck’s seminar for Editors BC, “Getting the Message Across: Clear Writing Tips.”

Despite coming over from Vancouver Island, I found this seminar’s location convenient. The seminar was set up in Vancouver at the BCIT Downtown Campus. This place was an easily accessible one for those who were familiar with the SkyTrain routes like myself.

After reaching my destination from the SkyTrain and settling in, I got to know a bit more about the other class participants. We introduced ourselves, and it seemed that the seminar participants ranged from proofreaders, editors, writers, and academics. Many commented that they were a fan of Frances, and I soon learned why.

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April 27, 2019: Editing Cake and Proofreading Compote: A Recipe for Successful Cookbook Editing

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What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, April 27, 2019, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Room 381, 3rd floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $165 for Editors Canada members ($135 early bird), $230 for non-members ($200 early bird), and $100 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes April 23; early-bird rates are in effect through April 9.

Serves: A room full of editors

Time: 6 hours

Cookbook editing can be a satisfying niche with a feast of opportunities. Calling for equal amounts of editing skill and culinary knowledge, the recipe for successful cookbook editing can be mastered by those willing to put in a little time in the editing kitchen. 

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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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