Meeting Notes From 4/22

Our April 22 meeting featured professional editor Jami Carpenter of Bend. In addition to her editing experience, Jami has been an English teacher and school counselor, a TV producer and frequent presenter at educational and writing workshops. She currently works as a ghost writer and freelance editor for publishing houses and independent writers.

Jami talked about the mechanics of editing, including proof reading, punctuation, grammar, spelling, and avoiding repetitive words and phrases. Jami advised writers to find an editor who will work with you and help you find out who you are as a writer. It is well worth the investment to engage the services of an editor who will do a line-by-line edit of your manuscript prior to submission to a publisher. When publishers consider a manuscript, the more work that is needed the less likely it will be selected. An editor will help assure an author’s work is publication-worthy. Jami emphasized the importance of checking out publishers’ guidelines and adhering to them when preparing a manuscript for submission, whatever the genre.

Jami distributed a list of tips regarding formatting. Most publishers prefer writers use the font Times New Roman 12. Italics should be used for titles of books, movies, foreign words and internal dialogue. Do not underline, not even in bibliographies, and while it is important to spell check your work, do not rely on that feature to catch all possible errors such as misused words, homophones, etc. Jami encouraged you to be yourself in your writing, identify your purpose and audience, and read out loud to be sure your characters, dialogue and situations are believable and compelling to the reader.

We thank Jami for her excellent presentation and her interaction with the meeting participants. To learn more about Jami, books she has edited and her editing services, go to http://www.blogger.com/www.redpengirl.com%20 . You can contact her at jamicarpenter@yahoo.com or 702-768-5949.

Upcoming Meetings

Thursday May 27—Alfred Mullett, co-author of Sumpter Valley Railway: Images of Rail. The meeting will also feature a reading by guild member Mike Rettig.

Thursday June 24—Humor writer Jo Ann Senior will speak on the topic, Incorporating Humor in Your Writing. Also featured will be a reading by guild president Elsie Rochna.