Join our study group as we prepare for the 2022 Editors Canada Professional Certification Exams

There’s still time to join! We meet on Thursday evenings.

Every year, the Editors Association of Canada offers exams for FIVE professional certifications: proofreading, copy editing, stylistic editing, and structural editing. Those who achieve all four are Certified Professional Editors (CPE).

The exams alternate each year, and this year, certification tests for copy-editing and stylistic editing are available if you register online between July 27 and October 21, 2022.

The exam will be held on Saturday, November 19.

For more information, review https://www.editors.ca/professional-development/professional-certification/register-professional-certification-exams. Remote testing is being offered again this year.

This is what editors are saying about Editors Canada’s certifications:

Image from https://www.editors.ca/professional-development/certification#saying

Plain Language for Editors: Join us for a lively and interactive workshop with Moira White

You’ve heard a lot about the importance of plain language in written materials, but what does plain language actually mean? Join us on October 27, 2020, to learn more about helping your clients reach their broadest audience. In this lively, hour-long session, Moira White will first explain what plain language involves and then demonstrate some of the plain language techniques and resources that every editor should have in their toolkit. Finally, she will leave time to share stories and answer members’ questions.

Each member who registers will receive a PDF containing resources, tips, and a plain-language checklist.

An hour-long, friendly discussion about our practical experiences with plain language will immediately follow the workshop.

Details

Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Time: 7:30 – 9:30 PM
Please RSVP by October 20 via email to kwg.twig@editors.ca.

Note. This event is only open to KWG twig members of Editors Canada. If you’re a member of Editors Canada and would like to join us, please send us an email.

Moira White is a versatile communicator with decades of experience in plain language editing, writing, and teaching for government and corporate clients. She teaches a number of highly acclaimed writing and editing courses in Ottawa and across Canada. Last year she taught close to 1,000 students. Since 2006, she has been president of Ottawa-based Ubiquitext Communications.

Moira holds a master’s degree in social policy. She thoroughly understands the public policy making process and plain language guidelines. She has extensive experience editing texts to produce clear, concise documents and helping clients find appropriate means of disseminating information. She has managed onsite production of reports in Canada and Europe; has travelled across Canada with public consultations writing, editing, and producing reports; and has synthesized the work of multiple authors and written executive summaries. She is an honorary life member and past president of Editors Canada and is a member of PLAIN (Plain Language Association InterNational).

Photo depicts five colourful notebooks stacked artfully. The photo is credited to Jubal Kenneth Bernal via Unsplash. (Last accessed on October 12, 2020.) 

October (Virtual) Meetup: The Editor’s Book Club reads Sin and Syntax

We’re back! And we’re meeting up online to discuss C. Hale’s Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose.

Contact us at kwg.twig@editors.ca to get a copy of the link.

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction of Sin and Syntax as posted on Hale’s website: Language is paradox. Sin and Syntax dwells in contradictions and dabbles in the eloquence of tradition, the intelligence of creoles, the decadence of slang. We’ll root around where language is most playful: in the pop, the vernacular, the mongrel tongues. We’ll examine how the highbrow and the lowbrow define the edges of prose and how the middlebrow dooms it to mediocrity. We’ll diss legalese and computerese and ditch the lifeless rhythms of Standard Written English. We’ll also summon the spirit of renegades who ignore taboos and make the language sing, from Shakespeare to Shake ’n Bake and from Joan Didion to Junot Díaz. With a little Bob Dylan and Nicki Minaj thrown in. We’ll wallow with Walt Whitman, who ridiculed the “dictionary makers,” insisting that language has its base “broad and low, close to the ground.” We’ll accept English as a robust, swarthy tongue, capable of surviving tumult and thriving on change.

Constance Hale has published six books. She writes, hula dances, runs a writer’s retreat in Hawaii, and currently edits for the Harvard Business Review (http://sinandsyntax.com/bio/).

Event details

Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Time: 7:30 PM

Please RSVP by email to kwg.twig@editors.ca by Tuesday, October 6, 2020.

This event is for Editors Canada members only.

Photo of a weathered sign. Photo credited to K. Mitch Hodge via Unsplash.

Live Editing for Editors

FEBRUARY WORKSHOP WITH KWG EDITORS CANADA

What does a professional editor do anyway? How does a copy editor approach the text? How does this differ from a developmental edit? A stylistic edit? How might editing poetry differ from editing a material chemistry paper? What gets flagged or changed? Should we stet or leave a comment?  

The Kitchener–Waterloo–Guelph twig is excited to announce a live editing workshop for twig members. In a comfortable and congenial space, members will share their expertise across textual genres, styles, and types of edits to facilitate dialogue on editing.

Topics covered will include developmental, stylistic, and copy editing in the genres of non-fiction, science, poetry, and fiction. 

Bring your laptops! After registering, attendees will receive five select passages to review and edit before the workshop. (The live edit will be facilitated by session leads, but everyone will asked to participate and share.) This will be a safe space to ask all your questions and compare editorial styles—come out and join us!

DATE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2020

TIME: 7–9 PM 

LOCATION: Kitchener Public Library, Central Library

ADDRESS: 85 Queen Street North, Kitchener, ON, N2H 2H1

ROOM: Meeting Room C (in the basement) 

LIVE EDITORS (in alphabetical order): Maxie Bai Martin (KW Copyeditor), Paula Chiarcos (Moon River Editing), Angela Gradish (March Hare, Editing and Consulting), and Maggie Morris (Indie Editor). 

This workshop is only open to members of Editors Canada. Please RSVP by FEBRUARY 13, 2020 to give yourself enough time to review and edit the material. If you’re not a member but you’re interested in joining us for a similar session in the future, please email us. 

To RSVP, email us at kwg.twig@editors.ca.

Credit: Photo of a live concert by Danny Howe via Unsplash.