Here’s to Two Years!
Two years ago, I received my business license in the mail, telling me that Rabbit with a Red Pen was officially created. Until then, starting an editing business was some far-off thought and always had the words “maybe someday” attached to it. A shake-up at my social work job led me to worry about whether I’d still be employed in the near future, and I decided that night to start my editing business—just in case. That “just in case” turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
There have been plenty of down moments in the past two years, which have all been learning experiences. Today, though, I’m choosing to focus on the wins, a highlight reel of sorts.
Working with amazing authors on amazing projects.
I’m nothing without my clients. I went from close to zero clients in the first six months of my business to a happy mix of indie authors, traditionally published authors, presses large and small, and organizations. I’ve worked on sci-fi, fantasy, romance, thriller, heist, middle grade, anthologies, textbooks, nonfiction guides, blog posts, and video games. My services expanded, and now I offer line editing/copy editing, proofreading, sensitivity reading, and conscious language assessments.
Discovering my niche.
Six months in, I discovered conscious language through Conscious Style Guide, and I finally had a term for what it meant to be respectful and intentional with the language we use. I took it and ran with it, buoyed by all of CSG creator Karen Yin’s hard work and advocacy over the years. A few months prior to that, I had written a blog post about why representation in media matters to me, and I decided to incorporate conscious language and inclusive representation into all the work I did. This has also been an exciting way for me to draw from my social work education and career.
Speaking on panels, podcasts, and presentations.
Like many others, I have a fear of public speaking. So when I think about how many speaking events I’ve done (and how many I have lined up), it feels like an alternate reality. Through my ACES webcast on sensitivity reading and my guest interview on The Editing Podcast on the same topic, I gained recognition within the editing world. That has led to other invitations to speak for audiences of writers, editors, and publishers. While I know I’ll never truly be comfortable speaking publicly, I love sharing my knowledge about sensitivity reading, conscious language, writing characters of different identities, and more. Soon, I’ll be adding microaggressions in editing to the list of topics too.
Becoming part of the editing community.
When I started my business, I knew exactly zero people in the editing community. I quickly joined national editing organizations like ACES and the EFA, as well as Utah Freelance Editors. I also created a Twitter account, not knowing how to use it or what I was going to do with it. Fast forward to today, and I have connected with countless editors. I’m part of nine Slack groups, attend socials and organizational meetings, and regularly interact with people on social media. It was scary to put myself out there, but I’ve found that the overwhelming majority of people are kind, welcoming, and happy to share knowledge and opportunities.
Being elected to the ACES Board of Directors.
I never imagined that I’d be serving on the board of directors of one of the largest editing organizations in the US, let alone this early in my career. Being part of ACES has been instrumental in the growth of my business, and I wanted to give back. With encouragement from friends, I ran and was elected, and I’ll be serving until at least 2023. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the organization, and I’m honored to be part of it.
Publishing my Conscious Language Toolkits for Editors and Writers.
I had the idea for the Conscious Language Toolkit for Editors almost a year before I published it. I set the idea aside because I was busy with other things, but I kept hearing editors talk about how they wanted to give conscious language feedback to their clients but weren’t sure how to approach it. I decided to make it a priority, working on it almost every night for I don’t even know how long. I then took the editing toolkit and tweaked it to be relevant to writers. These toolkits are two of my proudest accomplishments, and I love hearing editors and writers talk about how useful they are.
Everyone’s business is different, and so is the journey that led them to where they are now. I’m still learning, and there will be plenty of bumps along the way. I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished in the last two years, and I know I’m just getting started. Thanks for being here with me.
