This fall is full of exciting happenings in my editing world!

• Style alert! CMOS 18 hits the streets
• My appearance on Club Ed Discussions
• My upcoming course on editing horror
• My upcoming presentation for ACES VCON24

The Chicago Manual of Style releases a new edition

While the Associated Press frequently updates its style guide to accommodate the fast pace of delivering up-to-the-minute news, The Chicago Manual of Style is updated approximately every seven years in deference to the much longer development times for book-length projects.

So the recent release of the style guide’s eighteenth edition is big news for editors, who are eagerly educating themselves on the style changes in the new edition.

I have a subscription to the online edition, and generally that’s my go-to resource because of its search capabilities. But I couldn’t resist purchasing the print edition (and its strikingly yellow cover) to sit beside my print editions going back to the fourteenth (my first edition). With the number of years between editions, it’s a good investment, and it’s comforting to have it on my shelf.

Some changes will take some getting used to (I’ve spent too many years avoiding numerals at the beginning of a sentence to not look askance). But most I’m on board with.

Always use a capital letter for complete sentences after a colon? Sounds good to me. Check Merriam-Webster for capitalization of adjectives derived from proper nouns (think french fries or Dutch oven)? Even better.

I talk horror, romance, and copyediting on Club Ed Discussions

On August 13 I was thrilled to join Jennifer Lawler on Club Ed Discussions, a discussion series she hosts for editors in her Club Ed membership. While the discussions are recorded, they’re reserved for her members, so I can’t share the link here, but I had a blast talking about the similarities between horror and romance, working with authors and publishers, and other aspects of copyediting.

Jennifer is one of my favorite people in the editing world, and taking her classes has been an important part of my editing journey. Through Club Ed, Jennifer offers classes, community, and other resources to support editors and help them deliver quality services to authors and publishers.

I’m teaching a class on editing horror!

Speaking of Club Ed, Jennifer Lawler has long wanted to add a horror course to her offerings but doesn’t herself edit horror. Knowing my love of the genre, Jennifer asked me to develop a course for her platform, and this October students will be able to participate in Editing Horror with James Gallagher.

The class begins with a one-hour live webinar that will be available for later viewing and also includes an online forum and feedback on a sample chapter edit. I am beyond excited!

I’ll be presenting a session for ACES VCON24

ACES: The Society for Editing is hosting a virtual conference from September 25 to 27, and I’ll be presenting the session “How to Create an Annual Report for Your Editing Business.”

Presenting before a national conference of my peers is a huge honor and will be one of my highlights for the year. I’m also looking forward to all the other informative sessions from the fantastic editors at the conference.

Other news

I’ll just add that I’ve been busy with copyediting, proofreading, and developmental editing work for indie authors and publishers. This year I’ve been pleased to add Hachette Book Group, Penguin Random House, and Catapult to my clientele.

Happy writing!