How teaching college writing shaped my editing
One of the most important tools of my work as a college writing teacher was office hours, where I worked with students, either in small groups or individually, on their writing. Some students struggled to integrate their academic sources into their arguments, and others wanted thoughts on their latest draft, but one first-year student ended up at my office hours after I invited her there with good news: I had noticed that she wrote with seemingly effortless conviction and grace. Karla’s work had that most elusive quality: voice.
Much to her surprise, I told her that I thought her work was ready for publication. Since our course, Chicago’s Yoga Community, had a service learning component that included guest speakers from around the city, I connected Karla to writer and yoga activist Carol Horton, who then connected Karla to the Yoga Service Network, where her work was eventually published. It was one of the highlights of my career, and Karla later wrote to me, saying how grateful she was for my encouragement. From this experience and others, I continue to draw inspiration for my work as an editor. Here are several beliefs that inform how I help writers.
Connection is everything
While office hours were mostly set up as a means to talk through writing issues, it inevitably became a time for students to share a bit about their lives. One who had missed a recent class gave a detailed story about how his car had broken down, while another played me his favorite video of Kevin Hart doing stand-up. This is why meeting face-to-face helped me better serve my students: I was able to learn where they were coming from and what made them tick.
As an editor, I don’t always get insights into the nitty-gritty of my clients’ lives, but my training as a teacher has made me more empathetic and concerned with the backstory behind your writing. The more sensitive and compassionate I can be, the more flexible and responsive I can be to your individual needs during the editing process.
Collaboration is key
I will never forget the many weekends I spent with stacks of papers after student drafts came in. While I began my career spending a lot of time on each paper, providing extensive feedback, with experience I learned that my feedback was only the first step in an interactive process and that giving feedback alone simply wasn’t enough. I had to see how the writer received the feedback: Did it make sense to them? Did they agree with it? And perhaps most important, did they know what to do next?
As I began to see how essential an ongoing conversation was in the writing process, I started planning more time for collaboration and placing less emphasis on my role as the teacher. Then I saw firsthand how much writers learn and develop when they are given the space to process and “own” feedback.
While you might need my feedback only to progress with your work, clients tell me they benefit when I incorporate collaboration into editing contracts: whether it’s Zoom calls after you have reviewed my comments or a few rounds of emails where I take time to look over the edits you make. Not only do you get to verify that you revised your work in an effective manner, but you also learn how to improve your writing. Many say they walk away with tips that they can carry over to future projects.
Boosting writer confidence is essential
Let’s face it: even for the most gifted practitioners, the act of writing can be incredibly complex and daunting. That’s why I try to always emphasize the positive in my feedback—a focus that was woven into my teaching practice: I always requested that my students provide a cover letter pointing out what they felt was successful in their work, while also acknowledging what they were struggling with.
As an editor, it’s easy to become engulfed in the “corrector” role, because, after all, I am entrusted with tagging errors and issues in your text. But I constantly remind myself that all writers are also looking for feedback in terms of where the text works well. While each project differs, I try to uphold a healthy ratio between suggestions and applause in my feedback to you.
