Author: Kathryn Nevin

Although a social worker for 25 years, I have always worked as a writer, editor, and proofreader either formally or informally. I started life as a poet with a passion for English language and literature, which led me on an academic path from St. Andrew's School to Swarthmore College and then to Indiana University (Bloomington, IN). Following a hiatus in Spain, where I taught English as a Second Language, I returned to the U.S. and enrolled for a year at Indiana University's Ph.D. program. During this year I discovered that I had a passion for helping others as well as a love for writing and literature. As a result, I completed my Master's in Social Work at Widener University and held a variety of clinical positions, from child welfare to prison social work. The passion to write and edit always continued and finally culminated (or rather, is beginning) in founding my own freelance business, "Eagle-Eye Editing."
The mission of Eagle-Eye Editing is to provide exceptional and affordable editing services, with particular emphasis on the needs of mental health professionals and social justice organizations. In this way, I get to use both of my passions to help those whose work I love and understand.

Categories
Blogging

The Need for Editors

Lately, I’ve  been interested in polling internet literature regarding the art of editing.  Despite the outright dearth in related articles, I’ve come across some laudable nuggets, which I’ve posted on Eagle-Eye Editing (http://www.facebook.com/eagle.editing).  I also ran into a huge shocker: a series of “myths and facts” about editing, which actually asserts that editorial review is not always necessary.  If you’re a good enough writer, the article blithely reports, then you just don’t need one.  After I recovered my breath, I remembered Brendan Brown’s recent blog that staunchly informs readers that this particular view has no merit.  While Brown mainly refers to academic editing, I’m opening up the field to any and all editing and piggybacking on his points regarding the necessity of obtaining an editor.  Brown cites three key reasons for editorial review: missing and extra words and repeated sentences.  No matter how polished the writer, these blunders happen, and that’s where the human touch of editorial services comes in.  You simply can’t turn in an academic paper, Brown argues (or any document for that matter, I might add), without having it professionally checked by a real-life person.  Imagine your chagrin at missing something as simple as a cut and paste error, for example.

I’d like to include the issue of meaning to the list of reasons to secure editorial services.  Only a human reader is qualified to assess meaning.  The author knows what she means when she says X, Y and Z, but does the reader?  It’s easy to think we are communicating what we mean to say when we’ve been mulling it over and writing about it for hours or days.  Putting that notion to the editorial test is key.  Is what you mean to say really coming across?  Isn’t that the crux of the matter?  Whether I’m a student or a business magnate, I aim to be understood.  It’s crucial to my academic success.  It’s paramount to my marketing campaign.  I want people to get my message and I want to be sure the message is clear.  If my reader grapples with any confusion as to why my notion or product can help them, it’s just not going to sell.  I can run my message through spell check and a number of other programs, but the bottom line is: meaning requires human response.  There’s just no getting around it.  Not only do I flatly disagree with the idea that an editor isn’t necessary, I counter with the polar opposite.  Editors are vital to the writing process and product.  Without us, you may never know the power and the glory of an author’s intentions.

 

http://www.editing-online.com/editing-2.html

http://www.experteditor.com.au/blog/3-reasons-humans-still-better-computers-academic-editing/

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Categories
Blogging Information

Kathryn Nevin: BIO

https://www.facebook.com/eagle.editing
https://www.facebook.com/eagle.editing

Although a social worker for 25 years, I have always worked as a writer, editor and proofreader either formally or informally. I started life as a poet with a passion for English language and literature, which led me on an academic path from St. Andrew’s School to Swarthmore College and then to Indiana University (Bloomington, IN). Following a hiatus in Spain, where I taught English as a Second Language, I returned to the U.S. and enrolled for a year at Indiana University’s Ph.D. program. During this year I discovered that I had a passion for helping others as well as a love for writing and literature. As a result, I completed my Master’s in Social Work at Widener University and held a variety of clinical positions, from child welfare to prison social work. The passion to write and edit always continued and finally culminated (or rather, is beginning) in founding my own freelance business, “Eagle-Eye Editing.”

The mission of Eagle-Eye Editing is to provide exceptional and affordable editing services, with particular emphasis on the needs of mental health professionals and social justice organizations. In this way, I get to use both of my passions to help those whose work I love and understand.

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Categories
Announcements Blogging Information Networking Online Life Projects Website

Eagle-Eye Editing is in the House of Seymour!

Hello and welcome to the joint venture of Eagle-Eye Editing and Seymour Digital Consulting. It’s a venture infused by the great harmony of the written word and the visual text. It’s also great when childhood bears good fruit; I am grateful to St. Andrew’s School for my connection to Andrew Seymour and for so many other good people and experiences. It was at St. Andrew’s where I first caught two serious viruses that have shaped my life forever — the Poetry Virus and the Editing Virus. They are formidable bugs, but entirely manageable and I expect they will produce even more good in the near future. So — I am happy to be here, happy to be the House Editor and happy to have another place to kick off my shoes. Please stick around for new posts about me, my editing business, and my work here with Andrew. Thanks for your time!

Kathryn’s Other’s Site:

http://www.facebook.com/eagle.editing

Contact me here too!

 

Regards,

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