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A good editor is your most lovingly attentive — and yet deeply critical — reader. He or she wants nothing more than for every sentence to sing, for each paragraph to flow gracefully into the next.

But polishing paragraphs and smoothing out sentences are only part of the job. As an editor, I simultaneously evaluate structure, language, pace. Would that last paragraph be better as your opening? Is the article or chapter too long or too slight? I’m also checking your argument for holes and flaws in logic to make sure you’ll leave readers convinced. Finally, I’m looking for what’s not there. Are there other facts you need? Are there additional details that would flesh out a particular passage?

I work in Microsoft Word or Pages, using the Track Changes feature. This makes my edits transparent to the writer, and lets me insert specific comments or questions. Clients can accept my change, or revert to the original phrasing.

Editing, then, isn’t a process of making corrections. (If you need someone to attend to only spelling, grammar, punctuation or style, I can refer you to several terrific copy editors.) It’s a collaboration between the writer and an editor who is equally invested in making a piece of writing as strong as possible.

Line editing. Sentence-by-sentence editing for nonfiction, including essays, magazine articles, white papers, reports, book chapters, op-eds, blogs and more.

Editorial consulting. Strategy for individual projects or planning for ongoing content development and delivery, such as web articles, blogs or newsletters.

Manuscript evaluation. Quick read-only assessment of appropriateness for target use or publication.

Op-Eds. Op-ed writing, editing, targeting. Basically all things op-ed. See some samples of articles I helped place, and a few I wrote. 

Temporary staffing. Short-term assistance for publications short-handed because of illness, vacation or family leave.

It depends. Do you have a 300-page book manuscript, or just a 600-word essay? Do you need a whole website created, or just a polish to your existing home page?

I believe the fairest way to charge clients is by the hour, because each job and each client has different needs — and sometimes those needs shift as a project progresses. I use software to track my time to the minute, so my invoice will detail for you what I worked on, when, and for exactly how long.

You pay for only the time your job needs. You don’t pay me to talk to my Mom, or take yoga, or sit around and wait for return calls. There’s a pause button for all that.

I’m happy to calculate estimates or to provide day or weekly rates. I also can provide references to, or contract work from, a number of highly skilled specialists, including writers, researchers, copy editors, designers and photographers.

In yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, there was a story about the the Republican National Committee meeting in Hollywood to discuss how they can turn things around in national elections. In general, many of these GOP bureaucrats say they aren’t going to shift any policy positions, but instead work on their rhetoric. Chairman Reince Priebus said his job was to communicate the party’s positions, “draped in grace and respect.” (As an aside, I’m not it’s possible to sound respectful to gays while calling for constitutional amendments preventing gays from marrying, no matter how many niceties you use.)

But the hilarious bit was this quote right after that, again from Priebus, who said, “However, I know we’ve also had a few biologically stupid comments that were made in 2012 that helped, unfortunately, build a narrative and caricature that wasn’t true.”

“Biologically stupid comments.” What does that mean? Is it s reference to Todd Akin who said while running for senate from Missouri, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” That seems a biological gaff. Or the multiple GOP presidential candidates who insisted being gay was a choice—not to mention Michelle Bachman’s co-ownership of a clinic offering “reparative therapy”? That seems biologically ill-informed. 

Or, maybe the chairman actually grasps that GOP candidates’ are often caught talking out of their ass.

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