Am I good enough? Can I edit?

Sometimes I ask myself: What am I doing attending school and studying editing? One

year ago I knew nothing about the broad application of editing. Mention the word edit and I

immediately pictured publishing houses where books or magazines were created. Today I know

better. I have discovered that editing plays a major role in everyday life, whether you are aware

of it or not. Good editing often goes unnoticed, but poor editing is like a slap in the face.

Happily, this creates a demand for well-trained, careful editors. So I ask myself two questions:

Am I good enough? Can I edit? I believe there are three qualities a person needs to be a good

editor: a love of reading and writing, a set of skills learned through work or college courses, and

a willingness to practice.

Over the past fifty years I have read hundredsmaybe thousandsof books. When I was

a young girl growing up in Nebraska, one of my favorite places to hang out was the Arnold

Public Library. From the worlds perspective, this was not an impressive library. It was very

small with a limited number of books. But for me it was perfect. The books were full of

adventures that carried me to wonderful places of enchantment.

Besides reading extensively, I have written quite a lot. Several years ago I wrote a story

which was purchased by the Friend magazine. In 2013 I wrote an article for the Ensign magazine

that was published in the April issue. In 2012 I started a monthly newsletter for my family titled

The Rosen Review. This two-page newsletter includes categories such as editorials, recipes,

breaking news, book reviews, Moms soapbox, and party ideas. Writing the newsletter gave me

plenty of opportunities to compose articles, design layout, and edit both substance and copy. I

found that I enjoyed the process.

 Because of all this reading and writing, I developed an instinct for what makes sense and

what doesnt. I can quickly grasp the flow of a story or the lack of organization; I can read a

manuscript and determine if the sequence is off; and I can reorganize the writing so it makes

sense. Even better, I enjoy figuring it out. I love mysteries, and untangling the sentences to

improve the coherence is like solving a mystery. As Amy Einsohn says, Publishing

professionals use the term editorial judgement to denote a copyeditors intuition and instincts

about when to intervene, when to leave well enough alone, and when to ask the author to rework

a sentence or a paragraph (Einsohn 4). I feel like my background has given me editorial

judgement.

These past experiences have laid the groundwork for professional training. I received my

first training in copyediting when I worked for a court reporter. A woman in my neighborhood,

Alison, was so busy as a court reporter that she didnt have time to edit all her transcripts, so she

hired me to do the preliminary editing. I thought this would be easy, given my background in

reading and writing. As it turned out, there was a lot more to editing transcripts than I had ever

thought possible.

I worked through my first practice transcript and turned it in to Alison for approval.

Although I suspected I would miss a few things, the amount of red ink on the page shocked me. I

had missed a lot of mistakes! Luckily, Alison was patient and took the time to teach me the skills

that were necessary to be accurate and thorough. It was hard work, but eventually I got to the

point where I could edit a transcript to Alisons satisfaction, saving her hours of time.

Now I am receiving editing training at BYU. My classes have taught me that there are

many things I still need to learn. In my substantive editing class I discovered that substance

includes more than just the story line. I learned that it is necessary to evaluate the substance of
graphs and charts, assess the accuracy of indexes, and hunt for inconsistencies that ruin the

credibility of a manuscript. I also realized that there is more analyzing than I expected. I enjoyed

learning all these new skills, but sometimes I feel as if my brain has been asleep for twenty years,

and it has been challenging to wake it up and use it!

To my surprise, some copyediting rules have changed over the yearswhen did two

spaces after a period change to one? If you dont know the issues, trends, and rules of style and

grammar, you wont be aware of all the little things that might or might not need attention

(Saller 26). The copyediting class has updated me on editing issues and trends. This has been

very helpful, but I also find it stressful. Editors usually go through a manuscript three times

once to do the initial editing, easily the longest stage; a second time to review, refine, and

sometimes correct the editing; and a third time after the authors review (The Chicago Manual

of Style 71). The list of things to check for is exhaustive. This makes copyediting both fun and

frustrating, and this point leads me to the third quality a good editor needs.

Practice, practice, practice. Practice isnt the thing you do once youre good. Its the

thing you do that makes you good (Gladwell 42). The only way to get practice is to find

opportunities to edit. Over the last fifteen years I spent a lot of time editing the papers that my

kids wrote for college. I fixed the organization, improved the flow, and corrected the

copyediting. Taking the time to place punctuation correctly and fix other grammatical errors was

annoying to my children, but working through these tasks was second nature to me. I enjoyed it.

Practicing within the family is just the start. Once word gets out that you are an editor,

there are people all around who want your help. Neighbors hope youll edit their family history;

relatives need resumes updated; the list goes on and on. The truth is that editors are needed in

schools and companies and any entity that produces written materials. Even participation at
church can require the editing of talks, printed bulletins, auxiliary programs, etc. The challenge is

to not be afraid, but to dive in and do it!

Am I good enough? Can I edit? I feel that my background is solid, my skills are

constantly improving, and my willingness to practice is tenacious. Although I might not be as

fast as someone with more experience, as time goes on I will get faster, my skills will continue to

grow, and I will be able to say with confidence: I am good enough. I can edit.