Approach to editing
You have a goal you want your writing to achieve. Here's how I work to help you reach that goal.
Descriptivist editing
You'd probably expect a copy editor to be a real stickler for grammar and punctuation, but I'm not.*
I'm what we in the editing biz call a descriptivist editor: I treat the "rules" of English as guidelines to help you say what you want to say, how you want to say it, and how you want your audience to receive it.
I know the rules, and I also know how to bend them to your benefit.
*Mostly. I get very twitchy at misused semicolons.
Collaborative editing
You may not know anything about editing, and that's OK! I'm not interested in asserting my "correctness" just because I've been doing this for a while.
What I am keen on, however, is working with you and creating a dialogue about what your writing wants to do and how you want your audience to receive it.
Then, together, we make that happen.
Human editing
It's soapbox time!
I will not use generative AI (GAI) when editing your writing (heck, I didn't use GAI for building this website, and Wix wouldn't stop badgering about it), and you shouldn't use it for your writing, either.
GAI services like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot are built on uncompensated copyrighted material. They cannot function without it. Putting new material—like your writing!—into it only makes it better for the GAI owners, not for you or your writing. On top of GAI's unethical building blocks, it's bad for the environment and for labor. A recent small study even found that relying on GAI impairs critical thinking (PDF).
GAI also just produces lifeless and bland writing. Believe me when I say anything you write will be better than anything a GAI produces.
