Editing and Writing in Reality

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          My deadline for the magazines is the 15^th-18^th of every month. This month, I spent over 10 hours editing and five hours writing on the 18^th to meet my text deadline. (Magazine editor is not a Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm job.) I spent that much time working as the 18^th is the sales deadline and the ad count determines the page count. For April, there wasn’t room for everything submitted to fit so I had to do the hardest editing of all—re-editing.

First, I edit everything submitted by the contributing writers and the public for errors, transitions, redundancy, and coherency as I receive them. The word count may go down, but the main goal is to make the writing as perfect as possible.

When space is limited, I have to re-edit ruthlessly—usually in one day.

The first things I cut weren’t happening in April. Those items are the easy targets, but I know the people and writers who submitted them will be upset, but I cannot let that influence me.

I’m also humbled at this time. I always find some errors and redundancy that I missed. When found, these mistakes are easy to edit.

I know the writers put a lot of work and artistry into their columns and articles. The columns fit on two facing pages so I don’t cut the word count in columns; I publish them or I cut them.

However, the hardest editing is taking a cohesive article then cutting it down to fit exactly on one, one and a half, or two pages without jumping extra text to the back pages. I cannot just cut the last three or four paragraphs. I have to keep the articles smooth, entertaining reads. This means great lines and well-written paragraphs throughout the article don’t always make the cut.

If I think the issue is tight—too many items to fit—I put off writing my timely article(s) until I know the pages I have left to fill. Because I’ve written so many articles over the years, I can write them quickly. This does put more pressure on me when I’m tired, but it’s easier and less time consuming to write shorter articles then edit down well-written completed articles. This is one of the tricks of my trade.

The last difficult thing I have to do is contact all the writers and individuals whose items were shortened or cut. I explain the situation. I also publish these items on the magazines’ facebook pages. Luckily, most of them understand and accept this. The ones who don’t, take time and diplomacy to appease.

This is why my days off coincide with delivery of the magazines to the printer. Once they are printed, I can’t change anything and I need to recover from all the work and stress it took to get them there.

Editing is more than using a red pen to transform text. It also takes persistence, patience, and people skills. It’s a great job, but not for everyone.

Word count for the week of March 12-18 was 7,121.

                    

Monthly Magazine Timeline Part 3

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

Continued from last week:

          My toughest week editing a monthly magazine runs from the 15th-22nd.

          I have an issue list I follow every month. On it, I list all the articles, features, and columns along with the page space each will fill and how many photos, if any. Depending on the page count, I have three to six articles per magazine. Columns are the same each month except I have one writer who alternates between his own Sports Column and an essay the next for a column he shares with another writer. I submit this list to the Production Department to make sure they include everything in the layout. I also prioritize items in case something doesn’t fit due to additional ads sold. (Remember I don’t find out the page count until the 18th—the day I turn all text over to the Production Department.) I also use this list to check off each piece after I email it to the Production Department to make sure I included them all.

If every writer meets deadline, I receive all the articles and columns on the 15th via email. I read each one then reply immediately with a thank you, a compliment, and any questions to let each writer know I appreciate their work. Most of them have written for the magazines between five and twenty-two years (some before I was the editor). As a writer, I know hearing from an editor is important. Also, most writers have become friends so it’s fun to let them know what surprised or entertained me.

          I then read each piece in depth trying to catch all errors. It isn’t possible so I reread each one at least three times between the 15th and the 18th. Fresh eyes are essential so I do these readings between eight to twelve hours apart. Luckily, I work with writers who take their work seriously so there are few errors usually. However, we are all human so mistakes happen.

          I used to print out the articles and columns then used a red pen to make corrections. I would then make the changes on the Word Doc. After a year or so, I just edited right on the Word Docs.

          Some writers choose to write the captions for photos running with their articles. Most don’t so I write them. Captions start with a clever phrase in all caps followed by the names of people in the photo and what they are doing. Generally, I wait until first proof to write the captions as space varies for each one depending on the layout.

          Only the gardening and sports columns run with photos. The rest are essays which run with pull quotes if there is room. Again some writers suggest pull quotes, others don’t so I choose them. Amount of space on the layout page determines the length of the quote and the size of the font used.

          While I have copyedited the event postings and Good News items during the month, more come in at deadline so I have to edit them as well. We list birthdays sent in which have to be set up as a feature. We include Pets of the Month to help animals get adopted which come in on the 15th as well so lots to do in just three days.

Once everything is edited, on the 18th of the month I email all text to the Production Department. Then I send all jpeg photos labeled by story or column so everything is received at the same time. Each item is labeled by month and year, 217 for February 2017, then initial for which magazine, then title of article, column, or feature. Photos are sent with same info, but begin with the word PHOTO so can be searched for easily.

    

          If something falls through at the last minute, I have to fill the space. If the page count goes up by eight pages (minimum increase), I have to fill the space. If a photo never comes in, I have to fill the space. And I only have hours to do so.

          To fill space, there are lots of options: use extra photos or add pull quotes to articles, add late arriving Postings or Good News items, expand press releases about programs or events into articles, have non-timely articles ready to go, or write an article or book column. Sometimes I can expand the articles I wrote for the issue by adding information and quotes I didn’t think I had room for originally.

I have an arts column that can fill a full page or two anytime. Artists are invited to send in photos of their work along with title, media, and contact information. I run the photos on a page like a gallery wall. Lots of white space with artists’ information underneath so readers can appreciate the pieces printed three or four to a page.

Whatever it takes—that’s the job. I do not get a lot of sleep during these three days. No time to write in my monthly notebook or work on my blog posts or do much of anything else like errands or house cleaning. Family members pitch in and pizza is often ordered. During the day, the dogs go in and out as they wish through the doggie door built into the storm door into a yard where I can watch them through my office window. They come in to check on me so I take short breaks to play fetch with them and get some fresh air.

           If the page count goes down by eight pages, filling the space should be easier but it isn’t. I start by shortening or cutting items in event postings. I make articles about events into short postings. I cut my Editor’s Thoughts column. (Because it is sometimes cut, I write my 450-word Editor’s Thoughts on the 19th in time for the second proof. Yes, I have learned to write quickly doing this job for well over a decade.) Most of the articles are timely so they need to run although I try to have at least one that isn’t so I can save it for the following month. Shortening articles takes hours, but sometimes it must be done. Obviously, pull quotes aren’t used and only one photo per piece. Readers love the columns so they run if possible. If not enough room, I run columns on the magazine’s facebook page so they can still be read that month. All of this takes time on the 18th and 19th. Again, there is not much time for sleeping or anything else.

          I get the first proofs by email on the 20th. I do print these out and use a red pen for corrections.

I have about 24 hours to proof both issues, but I do sleep for a whole night as tired eyes will not catch errors. My red pen gets lots of use as I sometimes rearrange the order of items to fill the space more efficiently. Then I go through looking for errors I missed. Things jump out at me in this different format. For example, titles that don’t work—too long or not clear. The Table of Contents needs correct titles and page numbers. Jumps must be noted at bottoms of pages to the correct tops of pages where text continues. Also, as the writers and I use Word but the Production Department uses Macs, there are some conversion problems notably symbols for some punctuation marks and apostrophes everywhere for no reason. They are difficult to spot and make proofing a nightmare.

I used to return the proofs on paper for corrections to be made, but now we do them over the phone so if there are any questions I can answer them so second proofs are in great shape. Usually, I only have two or three hours to complete second proofs late on the 21st or early on the 22nd. The final versions are sent to the printer on the 22nd or early on the 23rd to be printed then delivered to local Post Offices for delivery to every home and business by the first of the month.

No rest for me. I have to assign articles to the writers by the 25th for the next issue. See Monthly Magazine Timeline Part 1 as the routine starts all over again. (As December 25th is a holiday, I wrote that I assigned articles by December 26th in Part 1.)

Local Monthly Magazine Editor is a great job if you like to plan things way in advance, pay attention to details, look up grammar rules, and take the heat for all errors as it’s the editor’s job to catch every one of them. On the upside, I get to work from home, interview interesting people, work with other writers, and be part of a publication residents enjoy reading. I also get to write articles, essays, and book reviews. This is my dream job.

Week of January 22-28, word count was 5,841.

Editorial Advice from an Editor to an Intern: What it Takes to Become an Editor

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

This is the second part of my post started on October 3, 2016 where I gave writing advice to an intern who also wants to be an editor.

   

            

Recap:

I didn’t set out to become an editor. I wanted to be a successful writer working from home. I became both by writing for years then taking a writing class where I met the woman who just bought one of the magazines I now write for and edit.

I started out as an unpaid intern for the magazines. I wrote articles as well as learned about copyediting (turning press releases and items sent in by the public about meetings and events into style copy for the magazine issue), layouts (placing texts, ads, pull quotes, photos, and captions on each page), proofreading (using the correct proofreaders’ marks), and the myriad of little things to check in an effort to publish an almost perfect issue (something always goes wrong).

A few years later, I became the editor of two magazines—a job I love. Now I’m working with an intern who wants to be a writer and an editor. I’m happy to share my knowledge and experience with her; however, writing skills are more straightforward to discuss than editing skills.

Here is my editing advice:

Reading is the most important editing skill. The more you read, the more you build up your sense of words—their rhythm, flow, and tone—and expand your vocabulary. You absorb grammar and punctuation rules. Even reading poorly written books teaches you what doesn’t work.

Reading widely gives you a feel for grammar, but also read grammar books like Words Fail Me and Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner and/or the Grammar Girl series by Mignon Fogarty then keep them for reference. Do the same for punctuation. I like the Merriam Webster’s Guide to Punctuation and Style. Refer to these books often.

All knowledge makes you a better writer and editor. I read all genres as good writers make any genre interesting. I also read books about science and art as well as classic novels and bestsellers.

For writers and editors, words are our medium. Spend as much time as possible reading and writing.

Poetry is essential. Ray Bradbury makes this recommendation to writers on page 36 of Zen in the Art of Writing:

Read poetry every day of your life…it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough…it expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition.

Editors use these muscles more often than writers. Read any poet who appeals to you then branch out.

Read every book by Diane Ackerman, Bill Bryson, Joseph Campbell, and their ilk, like The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt, for broad-ranging knowledge.

Read memoirs. Read philosophy. Read the classics.

“…a good editor reads omnivorously and is interested in everything.” –from page 128 of Editing Fact and Fiction.

This is true so it’s also essential to stay on top of the news, pop culture, and have a wide array of interests. Articles and essays you edit (or write on assignment) can include references to anything.

The more information you take in through books, magazines, news outlets, TV, the internet, movies, and conversations, the more you have in your arsenal to help you catch errors when editing as well as to connect with readers when writing your articles, essays, and posts.

While the internet offers access to almost every piece of information, I also like to dip into reference books like The New York Public Library Desk Reference; The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy by E D Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil; and An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned But Probably Didn’t by Judy Jones & William Wilson to learn something new every day.

TV shows I recommend include CBS Sunday Morning at 9am as it covers a multitude of topics that are timely, interesting, useful, and fun. Writers and authors are often profiled. Also watch Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley on PBS as they interview many writers as well as cover a variety of topics. Book TV on C-SPAN2 offers weekends full of author discussions. Super Soul Sundays includes many authors talking to Oprah on OWN. Authors are interviewed on Well Read on PBS. BBC America has many shows about writers and the arts as does the Ovation channel. I also watch NOVA, Nature, and Masterpiece Theatre on PBS. I occasionally watch shows on the Discovery channel, Smithsonian channel, and History channel. Also, don’t overlook the knowledge shared on Jeopardy.

Yes, to be a good editor you need to read and watch TV as well as view movies and listen to all kinds of music—dream job!

As a freelance editor and writer, I never know what topics might come up. For example, I was the editor of a Boating & Fishing magazine for years. I don’t boat or fish so editing took more work to assign articles. Then I had to double check facts and spellings. You don’t have to know a topic to edit, but you need to put in the extra work to make sure errors don’t get into print.

A magazine issue does not exist without an editor tracking down article ideas, contacting people to be interviewed, assigning articles to writers with word counts and deadlines. Appropriate topics depend on the magazine. Columnists decide on their topics independently.

As these are monthly magazines, I decide and assign articles by, for example, October 25th that are due by November 15th for the December issues. There is no room for procrastination!

In the same time frame, I copyedit all press releases and information sent in by the public for each issue. I also write captions for photos with people's names left to right.

          Editors have to be prepared for articles to fall through at the last minute. Be prepared to write the articles yourself or have non-timely articles ready to go like profiles of artists. If you have a specific interest, like reading, be prepared with book reviews. 

Deadline is the 15th of every month. I have to edit everything by the end of day on the 18th and send it to the Production Department. Three days is not enough time for perfection. Hopefully, I catch most of the errors I missed earlier during proofing on the 21st and final proof on the 22nd. However, I do not get to see that changes were made correctly on the 22nd. If I didn't write clearly or the Production person missed a correction or made the change incorrectly, then there will be errors in the issue. We are all human so I just hope none of the mistakes are embarrassing misspellings.

For actual editing skills, train yourself by editing what you read, especially newspapers and magazines, using proofreaders’ marks. No publication is perfect. Also, editing is in part subjective. Cut articles you read by 50-100 words or more without losing any content. Look for repetition, wordiness, and filler as “every word should tell” (Strunk & White, page 23). Be concise and precise. Most importantly, let the writer’s voice stay true; however, clarity is essential. Please note, clarity does not mean only simple sentences.

An internship with an editor is the easiest way to see what editors do as well as ask why they make specific corrections and changes to pieces. Different editors make different changes sometimes due to the style of the publication, sometimes due to editing style.

Editors are required to check every fact. Check spelling. Look up definitions. When in doubt, double check.

Editors must:

change misused words;

correct misspellings, grammar, and punctuation;

double-check all names, titles, and facts;

find buried leads / reorganize paragraphs when needed;

include smooth transitions;

keep to publication’s Style Sheet;

stay consistent, i.e., U.S. or US; ten or 10;

check everything they are not absolutely sure about,

make writers’ work shine,

ensure clarity,

and meet every deadline without fail.

There is a lot to learn to become an editor and no easy way to teach editing skills. As I mentioned you need a sense of words, but also a discerning eye, an ear for language, and intuition when something is wrong even if you can’t point it out right away plus the tenacity to find and correct these errors.

Editing for magazines doesn’t require discussing changes with writers usually; book editing does.

Editing takes a lot of time, but deadlines are tight generally.

You need to work well under pressure.  

Fresh eyes are essential so take breaks as needed.

Read pieces aloud to catch mistakes.

As the saying goes: “Editors are like goalies. No one remembers all the ones you caught—only the ones that get by you.”

          

          Some mistakes will always get by you so you must have a thick skin.

          Learn from your mistakes.

          Feedback is sometimes negative.

          Tact and good people skills are important.

          Do your best on every issue or project. 

Reference Books:

Good dictionaries—one everywhere you work and read or use refdesk.com, look up every word you don’t know.

The Copyediting Handbook by Amy Einsohn

Editing Fact and Fiction by Leslie T. Sharpe and Irene Gunther

Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus (reviewed on 6/9/14)

The Synonym Finder by J I Rodale (reviewed on 6/9/14)

The Elements of Style by Strunk & White (reviewed on 12/8/14)

Words Fail Me and Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner

Grammar Girl series by Mignon Fogarty

Merriam Webster’s Guide to Punctuation and Style

Style Book (AP or Chicago Manual of Style)