For 25 years Faith was a professor of English literature and writing at Carleton University. Her role as Managing Editor of English Studies in Canada, along with the publication of several 16th and 17th century literary texts that she modernized and annotated, sparked her interest in editing. In 1997 she moved to Victoria and established herself as a freelance writer and editor.

What it’s about
Faith’s work encompasses a variety of genres. She has edited documents including Web-based manuals for the Pension Corporation, procedures documents for the Ministry of Human Resources, academic papers, educational materials, trade books, and personal memoirs.

Recently, she has been writing procedures manuals for new Web sites. This work “…requires becoming familiar with the concepts, and interviewing the creators and presenting [the concepts] so people who are not experts can understand the procedures that are required of them.”

What’s best
Faith identifies beginning a new job as the most interesting and stressful aspect of her work.

What’s worst
Job-hunting is one of Faith’s least enjoyable tasks. “Finding that job—i.e., marketing—is both stressful and uninteresting.”

What it takes
“If I had known how difficult it is to get established as an editor in a new city, I might never have thrown over my academic job,” Faith admits. “It took a good year of networking and joining organizations such as the Editors’ Association of Canada, Professional Editors Association of Vancouver Island, Consultants BC, and BC Professional Consultants Association. Eventually one job led to another and my second career finally got off the ground.”

Faith offers several suggestions for those considering a career in editing. “Every would-be editor brings different skills to the role. On starting out, you should assess your strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes being mentored can help in this process. Taking courses in editing can not only upgrade your skills but may lead to employment. Joining associations and taking on administrative responsibilities for them raises your profile.”

For those contemplating freelance work, Faith advises, “…it is important that you are outgoing enough to meet with strangers and promote your talents to them. At the same time, you often have to be able to spend your days working alone.”

Despite the challenges, Faith acknowledges, “I love words and my work and would not trade writing and editing for anything.”

Interest groups for editors

  STC Technical Editing SIG: http://www.stcsig.org/te/ 

  Editors Association of Canada: http://editors.ca/welcome.htm 

British Columbia Branch: EAC British Columbia Branch Box 1688, Bentall Centre Post Office Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2P7 Telephone: (604) 681-7184 Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 

  Professional Editors Association of Vancouver Island: http://peavi.bc.ca/