Industry Experience

In January 2014, I established Romance Refined so that I could expand the scope of my clientele to include working directly with self-publishing authors and authors wanting to refine their manuscripts before submitting to agents or publishers. I'm proud to have many repeat clients, and I enjoy adding new clients to my roster too. I continue to be available to work with small and large presses.

​I'm well versed in both Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition and New Hart's Rules 2nd edition, and I'm proficient with Microsoft Word and Adobe features. 
​

In March 2011, I joined romantic-fiction publisher Choc Lit's "Tasting Panel," where I was part of a team of readers who gave feedback on manuscripts being considered for acquisition, and I quickly became one of their top-tier critiquers.

​In January 2012 Choc Lit hired me as their freelance production editor and proofreader for 11 titles in their 2012 and 2013 list (titles not shown in my portfolio). While holding this position I also edited their e-only Choc Lit Lite imprint, including the first edition of their Christmas short story anthology (titles are listed in portfolio). During this time I also overhauled Choc Lit's house style sheet.

In December 2012, I became Choc Lit's primary editor. I was responsible for the majority of their 2013 paperback list and some of their spring 2014 paperback list, which included substantive, line, and copy editing each title in a three-stage editing process. Although the work was freelance, Choc Lit had no in-house editor, so my role for the publisher was comprehensive: I executed project management duties, reviewed final proofs, and I was the main point of contact with the authors throughout the editing and production process.

​

Ongoing Professional Development

​I frequently haunt many popular editing & grammar blogs and websites to stay on top of industry changes and news, and my home library is packed with books on writing and editing fiction. I'm active in several forums for fiction editors, where giving and getting help with tricky editing situations is a highlight of my day.

​
Industry Education
Editors Canada's Developmental Editing Fiction and Memoir webinar
SfEP's Brush Up Your Grammar in-person class
SfEP's Intro to Proofreading in-person class
EFA's E-Editing II: Editing in Word online class
Copyediting.com's Intermediate Master Class Perking Up Sentences webinar
Copyediting.com's Advanced Master Class Grammar: Beyond the Basics webinar
​Copyediting.com's Intermediate Master Class Key Concepts for Developmental Editing webinar
RWA University's Take Me Deeper, POV! online class
RWA University's Romancing YA online class
RWA University's Pacing: How to Write a Page-Turner online class
RWA University's Body Language online class
RWA University's A Day in the Life of a Forensics Expert webinar
​The Regency Academe's Mind of a Gentleman online class
Marketing webinars with Mark Dawson and Bryan Cohen


Conferences
Get Writing 2011 -- general attendee
Get Writing 2012 -- general attendee, including a class from Book Doctor Philippa Pride
Get Writing 2013 -- general attendee
RT Convention 2013 -- attended as Choc Lit's editor; participated in their Publisher Spotlight panel and took pitch sessions at Pitch-a-Palooza
RT Convention 2014 -- attended as an independent freelance editor
Editors Association of Canada "Editing Goes Global" Conference 2015