Author: lindaktaylor

Editor, writer, college instructor, mom to three great kids and grandma to five more, Christ follower, pet lover.

How do I become an editor? (Part 2)

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Following along from Part 1 of this little series about becoming an editor, today we’ll talk about the copyediting process.

I tell my students that this (or proofreading) will be the entry level job in a publishing house. To break in, they will look for jobs as copyeditors or sometimes they’re labeled as editorial assistants.

In a publishing house, after the content editor, in consultation with the author, finalizes the manuscript and considers it solid at the big-picture level, the manuscript will move on to a copyeditor.

The copyeditor reads at a more micro level. The macro work has been completed, so the copyeditor focuses on every paragraph, every sentence, every word, every bit of punctuation. She reads closely for sentence construction—looking for dangling or misplaced modifiers, run-ons, lack of parallelism, correct subject and verb forms. He fact checks and queries if something doesn’t make sense. She marks if a transition is needed. He checks spelling, grammar, and punctuation and works to be correct without changing the author’s voice or stylistic choices. (Yes, sentence fragments are often just fine.)

In addition, the copyeditor makes sure that the the manuscript follows house style guidelines. For instance, some Christian publishing houses may have a style that uppercases deity pronouns (He, His, Him, etc.). The copyeditor will make sure all pronouns for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are capitalized. However, if an author doesn’t want it that way (or if everything were vice versa), the copyeditor notes that on the style sheet. On that sheet goes anything specific to a manuscript that the copyeditor doesn’t want proofreaders to change when they do their pass.

The copyeditor makes the manuscript readable.

But wait, there’s more! The copyeditor also makes sure the front matter (title page, copyright page, table of contents, dedication page, etc.) and back matter (appendix, index, endnotes) are in place. He might often be charged with writing the back cover copy for the book.

Besides understanding the role and where you would fit into the publication process, what else do you need to know to be a copyeditor?

Grammar, punctuation, spelling

You need to absolutely know the basics, but beyond that, you must be willing to get into the weeds to really understand where commas should go, how to use semi-colons, nuking passive voice (when necessary), or how to render footnotes and bibliography entries.

Here are a few resources:

  • The students in my editing class use The Copyeditor’s Handbook (currently in its 4th edition) and the accompanying The Copyeditor’s Workbook (also currently in 4th edition). Working through these books will provide a solid foundation for you to know more than you ever wanted to know about grammar and punctuation. But to be an excellent copyeditor, you need these skills. I highly recommend these books for your personal study and reference if you want to be a copyeditor.
  • For fun and to test your skills, take advantage of several weblinks that offer grammar quizzes. See what you know; test what you still need to learn or improve. Try: Punctuation Practice Test; Free Grammar Quizzes (you can pay for more access, but try all the free stuff first); Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). Work your way through all of these. Find out your weak spots and then study up!
  • Work on your spelling and know the correct word. You do know the difference between disinterested and uninterested? Affect and effect? Venomous and poisonous? Save this link on your computer, Easily Confused Words, to check on words where you’re just not clear. Study them, learn them. When a word gives you pause, look it up! Your dictionary is still your best friend.
https://www.writeforharlequin.com/inside-harlequin-copy-editing-with-taryn-ortolan/

Style manuals, guides, sheets

You’ll need to know how to use style manuals; these industry “bibles” provide the standards for correct usage of anything from how to write people’s titles or addresses, to how to render times of day, to how to write centuries, to the order the front and back matter pieces. Study these books and always have them on hand as references when you come across something you need to know how to do correctly.

  • If you want to get into book editing, you should have a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style (currently in its 18th edition) or a membership to its website. This is the standard guidance for all of book publishing.
  • For magazine and news editing, which use AP style, you’ll want a copy of The Associated Press Stylebook (currently in its 57th edition).

Style guides are specific to every publisher, every organization. They should have standardized spellings and usages for words or other notations specific to the industry. For example, each Christian publisher may have a different way to write Bible book abbreviations and references, or different spellings for names of people or places (is it Ishbosheth, Ish-bosheth, or Ish Bosheth — actually all three are correct depending on the publisher).

If you’re working for a particular company as an employee or freelancer, get their style guide. The guide supersedes the style manuals (noted above), so you always go to the guide first.

As you work on a particular project, you may create a style sheet that will go with that project, noting any choices made by you or the author that differ from the style guide or style manual. For instance, I once proofread a book in which the author wanted the word Heaven capitalized. In most style guides, that word is lowercased, but because the author wanted it that way, that word went on the style sheet. That way, when the book went to the proofreader, he wouldn’t lowercase the word as incorrect.

Microsoft Word

Chances are you’re working in Microsoft Word, which is the industry standard for manuscript submissions. As a copyeditor, you can make use of the Editor tool (on the Home ribbon) that can do a quick check of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and other writerly issues. I would only use this as a preliminary pass, however, as it isn’t perfect.

  • Learn how to do track changes. (And learn how to hide track changes while you’re working. That can help you avoid introducing errors while you copyedit.)
  • Learn how to accept and reject changes.
  • Learn how to do commenting. This is so important in explaining a change you’re making or querying when needed.
  • My YouTube channel has several videos that can help you with other tasks, such a inserting a title page, adding a Table of Contents, or doing basic cleanup tasks before you begin copyediting.
  • One video explains how to use templates and style tags. You may or may not need to do this for a publisher, but if it comes up, this video can help.

And note, never put what you’re working on into ChatGPT for a proofread or grammar check. You’re basically giving away that writing when you do so — someone’s creative work, a professor’s research, or company internal information. Steer clear!

Practice

Practice copyediting every chance you get. Offer to read the church newsletter or the worship song slides (!!). Anytime anyone has written anything, it needs another set of eyes. Let those eyes be yours.

Consider certifications

You might consider enhanced training and professional certifications through organizations such as ACES: The Society for Editing, EFA (Editorial Freelancers Association), or CIEP (Chartered Institute of Editing & Proofreading, based in the UK), or other courses at local colleges or writers conferences. You will always learn something new.

After all, we editors are saving the world by fixing one typo at a time!

How do I become an editor? (Part 1)

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I’ve had several students take my Editing class and end up saying that it was that class that helped them discover what they wanted to do for a living. They’d been casting around, trying to be writers, and realizing that their love for words did not necessarily translate into becoming the next great American novelist. But give them a fresh manuscript to respond to, to make suggested changes on? They were off and running. They discovered that their love for words—both as readers and as writers—helped them be able to consider a manuscript, see the places where it fell short, and make suggestions. They wanted to become editors.

In my Editing class, we cover all stages of editing. I explain to my students that they probably won’t naturally enjoy all three of them—content editing, copyediting, proofreading—instead, they’ll probably take to one over the others. Inevitably, by the end of the class, some have discovered that they love the big-picture editing; others really liked the grammar portion of the class and wanted to copyedit because they can get in and mess with the sentences; others particularly enjoyed the proofreading we did on PDFs because they loved looking for errors.

It’s natural to gravitate to a particular form of editing. However, if you truly want to try to do this as a potential career, your starting point is going to be in the area of copyediting (more on that in upcoming posts). Rarely do content editing jobs open up without requiring several years of experience. However, that doesn’t mean, if this part really does come naturally to you, that you can’t do this as a freelancer.

Learning the phases of the book editing process and putting them in the correct order.

Of course, some students realize that they don’t like any of it and just want to stay on the other side of the table as writers. That’s fine. I tell them that at least the class gave them an understanding of what editors do so that, if and when they get a book contract, they’ll understand how their editor is trying to help them.

So whether you’re thinking of hanging out a shingle and doing freelance editing, or if you’re looking for a job at a publication of some kind (whether books, newspapers, or magazines), over the next few posts, I want to share with you key things to do to help you become an editor.

Content editing: the big picture

Let’s talk about the first pass on a manuscript: content editing. This has other names — sometimes developmental editing (which goes back a couple of steps and helps an author actually put together the book) or line editing. In any case, content editing is big picture editing.

For fiction: You’re reading for plot, setting characterization, rising action-climax-falling action (Freytag’s triangle), pacing, and theme. Do you want to keep reading? Is the story compelling?

For nonfiction: You’re reading to make sure the topic is covered well, that the book flows logically, that it’s written well for the target audience, that sources are noted and correct, and other things depending on the manuscript. If you’re working on a memoir, many of the factors you watch for in fiction also come into play.

Genres matter

Just as you may find yourself drawn to different types of editing, you will also find yourself drawn to different genres when it comes to what you like to edit. And you can gain expertise in those genres and focus your editing there.

For example, in nonfiction, content editing a memoir will be different from content editing a self-help book; in fiction, content editing a romance novel will be different from content editing a fantasy or sci-fi novel. Not that you can’t cross genres, but you’ll find a comfort zone and will be able to do your best work once you find it.

When content editing, it helps for you to understand how the genre works. If you love fantasy writing and understand it and hope to edit it, then continue to read lots of fantasy. Read your favorite fantasy authors, read blogs by fantasy writers, read the best of the best. And then, for good measure, read a few bad books as well so you can discern what is making the difference. When you’re marinating in a genre, content editing that fantasy manuscript will be easier because you’ll more easily see what’s missing and what will improve it. You’ll recognize the overused tropes and you’ll get a sense of what draws you as the reader into the story.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you should read only fantasy. Read widely. Read the classics. Read outside your favorite genre. Read nonfiction books about writing and editing. The more that you learn about the process for both writers and editors, the better content editor you’ll be.

Stay in your lane

When doing this pass, you don’t worry about grammar or spelling or sentence structure—instead, you’re reading to see how the whole book hangs together. Your mind can’t process the big picture elements if you’re also trying to correct grammar and punctuation along the way. Besides, you may end up having the author cut or revise whole sections of the book, making it a waste of time to copyedit the detail. Leave that for the copyeditor who comes next in the process after the manuscript has been finalized by the author and content editor.

Follow along in coming weeks for more on becoming an editor, focusing on the copyediting role.

Unlocking SEO: How Keyword Titles Boost Video Views

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I honestly never thought much about SEO (search engine optimization) until one of my students. Grant, decided to take on that topic as his final senior project in our Professional Writing major. He had found the topic interesting during our Social Media Strategy class and decided he wanted to learn more.

He researched deep into the weeds of the topic, wrote his paper, and did a final presentation that allowed him to consolidate the research and give the basics of search engine optimization in a presentation that was understandable to those of us who knew nothing. After graduation, Grant got a job with Visit Indiana, the tourism arm of the State of Indiana — now working as webmaster for their website with its tens of thousands of pages. When it comes to SEO, he knows his stuff.

Search engine optimization basically optimizes your search on the search engines … which means that we want to write our titles and posts and internet copy using key words that searchers are going to put into the search bars. When we do so, there is more chance of the algorithm finding our material and bringing it higher on the results. (That’s a way-too-simplified version and it’s beyond my comprehension, but I do understand working with words to match search words.)

Every semester, Grant graciously returns to my classroom to present that basic introduction to SEO to my students. Many of them have no idea what it is or how to use it.

And, if I’m honest, neither did I.

I had started a YouTube channel a few years ago with nothing more than a few screenshotted videos of me showing writers how to do various tasks in Microsoft Word (creating a title page, creating a Table of Contents, etc.). I recorded one of them because a former employer asked me to show how to do style tagging so they could send the video to clients. I created others to go along with my Pathway to Publication book as part of the manuscript formatting chapter. My little YouTube channel sat fairly quiet, with a few folks clicking on and viewing my videos.

As Grant taught about SEO, he explained the power of using key words in titles and descriptions, thinking of what a searcher on Google is going to ask. He suggested that we plug in some questions, and then scroll down to the “People also ask” section to get an idea of those googled questions, the “How do I …?” questions. I went back and changed the titles and descriptions to my eight videos (I know, I said it was a small channel) to questions or statements someone would actually put into Google.

For instance, “Title pages” became “Creating a title page in Microsoft Word,” and in the description of the video is the question, “How do I add a title page to my manuscript?”

A few months passed without me checking in. Last week, I opened the YouTube page to show it to the students in my Editing class to let them know some of the things we talked about in class are in video form there. One student piped up: “Wow, you have 11,000 views on that one video.”

Whaaaaat?

Just in case you can’t see it:

I honestly didn’t think it was real. I sent the screenshot to Grant, thanking him profusely and asking him also if this could even be real. He checked it for me, and then sent me this screenshot, showing that my video appears as the first video option when he googled “how to create a title page in Microsoft Word.”

“You should be proud of yourself,” he kindly said.

I don’t think I’d say that. I just find it exciting to see that yes, indeed, SEO thinking works. AND that so many folks happened upon my little video and, hopefully, made killer title pages!

I’m basically an influencer now …

Great editors: Starling Lawrence

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I was asked recently about what God has taught me through my writing career. While I do admit to enjoying writing, really most of my learning has been through my editing career. In both cases, however, the key lesson has been humility.

On the one hand, writers need humility to handle the (often many) edits of our work, and (often) outright rejection. Editors also require humility because we labor in the background. We don’t get credit for the work; that remains with the author, as it should. But those books became what they did because of the hard work of the editor with the author. That’s why I’ve enjoyed celebrating unsung editorial heroes on this blog; folks such as Maxwell Perkins, Faith Sale, and Tay Hohoff, among others.

This past month, we lost yet another legendary editor, Starling Lawrence, who had a 55-year editorial career at W. W. Norton. I have to admit, of course, I’d never heard of him, but I’ve certainly heard of books he edited, including The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, and Moneyball and The Blind Side by Michael Lewis (all three of which were books before they became movies).

When he started at Norton in 1969, Lawrence had the unenviable job of “reader,” sifting through the “slush pile,” the name for the pile of unsolicited manuscripts that came into the offices and were dropped somewhere for someone to eventually take the time to read. He said that this job taught him “an important lesson about patience and paying attention to the job, no matter what it is.” Publisher’s Weekly noted that, “As he panned for gold among the submissions, he trained ‘a voice that has endless patience for what does interest him,’ as Lewis put it.”

The W.W. Norton website wrote this tribute: “During his more than five decades at Norton, Lawrence had an unmatched impact on the trade list, shaping its character with culturally important books that sold millions of copies. Lawrence discovered future bestsellers in unlikely places: the slush pile of unsolicited manuscripts, the dusty top shelf of an agent’s bookcase, and in proposals rejected by the rest of the industry. As he once noted, ‘It is remarkable in hindsight that for two of the most important books I ever acquired, Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm and Michael Lewis’s Liar’s Poker, there were no other offers on the table.’”

With the latter author, Michael Lewis, Lawrence built a strong relationship that led to 17 books, including the above-mentioned Moneyball and The Blind Side. Lewis wrote of Lawrence, “When I sit down to write, the only voice I hear in my head is Star’s” (W.W. Norton website).

That’s a powerful editor/author relationship!

Across his five decades at Norton, Lawrence championed and edited “scores of era-defining books” (ShelfAwareness). “‘It is impossible to overstate the effect Star Lawrence has had on Norton,’ said Julia Reidhead, chairman and president. ‘His taste was as confident and true as his spirit, and he transformed our list with some of the greatest writers of our time'” (W.W. Norton website).

That’s an amazing legacy. While he did write a few of his own books, he spent most of his career in the shadows, behind the scenes, relegated to the Acknowledgments page (if at all) of the many books for which he as the best reader, the shaper, the author encourager.

That’s what I’m teaching my students in Editing class right now. If they want this career, it will be extremely rewarding but will not bring them fame or fortune. They must do it for the love of the words and the love of good stories.

4 reasons to attend the Taylor University Professional Writers Conference

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One of the hats I wear is coordinator of the annual Taylor University Professional Writers Conference, held every summer on the university’s beautiful campus. And I am inviting you.

Just a little over 10 years ago, we started this conference, wondering, “If we build it, will they come?” Well, came they did, and we’ve been running a successful conference ever since. The conference is a natural outgrowth of the Taylor University Professional Writing major, where students are trained, among other things, to navigate the world of publishing. Meeting and networking (and sometimes interning) with agents, authors, editors, and social media experts from across the Christian publishing industry is just one of the many plusses of our program.

Here are 4 reasons you should attend our 2025 conference:

1. It’s short and inexpensive.

Our General Conference runs a day and a half and is packed with sessions and fun. It runs from Friday, July 25 at 1:00 to Saturday, July 26 at 5:00. During that time are options of 32 different sessions, 3 keynotes, open mic readings, faculty book signing, and one-on-one appointments.

And all of that (including meals) for just $139. You’ll get Friday dinner, and Saturday breakfast and lunch, and all of the activities above. If you’d like to stay overnight on campus, you can for an extra fee of $70/night.

2. Add a day for some extra, advanced training.

For $139, including meals, you can opt to come to one of our pre-conference tracks. Beginning at 1:00 on Thursday, July 24 and ending with lunch on Friday, July 25. This is an opportunity to go deeper with a particular topic. You can choose from the following two options.

Option A: Deep POV / Prepping Your Proposal

In this Advanced Track, you’ll be privileged to learn from literary agent, Linda Glaz, who had been acquiring manuscripts, editing them, and coaching writers for 13 years. You’ll learn on Thursday about deep POV, the kind of writing that will deepen the experience of the reader and allow him/her to stay in the characters’ points of view. Then, on Friday, you’ll do a deep dive into how to write a solid book proposal–one of your first steps for the gatekeepers in the publishing work.

Option B: Comics Unlocked

​Your teachers (two Taylor U students) have been interested in comic books for their entire lives and are excited to share their knowledge with you. In their Comics Unlocked sessions, you’ll learn the history of comics, the craft of comic book creation (including formatting, script writing, pacing, and page layout), the artist/writer collaboration process, and possible paths to publication. You’ll also have the opportunity to work on your own comic book pitch and plan.

3. Do both a pre-conference track and the general conference for a reduced price.

If you choose one of the pre-conference tracks AND the general conference, you get both for $249. You’ll move seamlessly from having lunch on Friday after your pre-conference session to the general conference that begins at 1:00 p.m.

Some snapshots from our 2024 conference.

4. We’re great for all ages, types, and levels of writers.

Never been to a conference before? We’re ready to help you navigate with our friendly faculty and helpful staff (who just happen to be Taylor U Professional Writing students).

Just getting your feet wet in the writing world? We’re great for beginning writers to learn about what it takes and how to get started when it comes to being a writer.

Think you’re too old to start writing? You’re never too old. Lots of Bible characters have taught us that.

Think you’re too young? If you’re at least 16, we especially want to invite you to the conference. You’ll get to take part in all the sessions and networking, plus our college student staff will give you evening activities and a sense of what college life is all about.

Thinking you’re too advanced to need a conference? Maybe you’ve been around the industry a long time; maybe you’re a published author. Even so, there is never a time that you don’t need a refresher or some encouragement. And even better, you bring your expertise to those newer writers.

Check out the conference website at www.tupwc.com and register today!

A “Find Your Tribe” gathering of nonfiction writers at the 2024 conference.

Trying to meet the AI challenge: Part 2

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As I noted in this post at the end of December, I was studying ways to teach my students how to use AI (artificial intelligence; in this case, specifically ChatGPT). However, “teaching them how to use” is a misnomer because I quickly discovered that students already are using it. And I was naive to think otherwise.

That discovery meant that my lesson preparation turned from presenting the opportunity of AI to instead focus on the ethical and practical uses of AI when writing. From a course like Essentials of Written Communication (business writing), students need to learn to be able to use AI well when they get into their internships or jobs. In fact, ability to use AI, write prompts, and yet understand AI’s limitations, will be a requirement by employers.

https://learn.aiacontracts.com/articles/

But first …. let’s understand what AI can and can’t do. I had the students read the article: “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of AI Writing.” Here’s a synopsis:

AI can be good and helpful because it can save time, thus making employees more productive, and it can help reduce human error. (For instance, even using a program like Grammarly or the Editor in Microsoft Word is using AI to help clean up writing.) I want my students to see that AI can be helpful with time-saving idea generation, editing, and yes, even some first draft preparation.

For my students, it will be important to learn how to write good prompts and create perhaps some initial ideas for drafts of documents they will need in their future jobs, help them with research, provide guidance when making sense of statistics, etc. Learning how to use AI well will be a timesaver, allowing them time to do other important aspects of their job.

But ..

AI can be bad for myriad reasons. It is only as creative as what is already “out there”; thus, it really has no creativity or originality. It only takes what others have done as everything appears online. (As a writer, this for me is the nonstarter. I refuse to let it do any writing for me. Indeed, I am writing this blog post all on my own!)

Students who use AI to write their papers end up with writing that (ahem) is often easy for teachers to spot. (Not always, but sometimes.) One of the key assignments my colleagues and I are doing is to have students write something in class at the beginning of a semester, which gives us a sense of their writing ability and style. That provides us with a benchmark to work from. And we check all quotes and sources to make sure they exist and are correct.

Students must never depend on AI to deliver a final product. It needs their human eyes and human voice. Thus, they need to know how to edit, what to look for, and how to take what AI gives them and polish it.

But …

AI can be ugly because it doesn’t have ethical standards. It’s happy to write pages of uninspired, generic material, make up quotes, make up sources, make up statistics, all while using everyone else’s ideas that exist in online world.

My students need to find the uses for AI that are helpful but not unethical, such as brainstorming, clarifying material that is difficult to understand, even help with foreign language learning. As a professor, I have had it create some games to make the point of a lesson, or give me some case studies to use, or even advise on how to simplify a concept for my students.

For instance, one assignment we did in class was to have each student write an email to a prospective student. We discussed audience, format, and structure of good emails. We put the characteristics of our target audience on the board.

I gave them a worksheet on which they did the following three activities — all three of which would be turned in. First, write an email in class, without any kind of AI help. Second, create a prompt and put it in ChatGPT, then copy and paste onto the worksheet both the prompt and the generated email. Third, create a final email starting with the original and incorporating anything from AI that seemed helpful (and highlight those things).

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, in most cases, the first email written on their own was just fine, but they did at times incorporate another point or even a particular phrase that they liked from the AI-generated version. And I did ask them to run their final version through the Microsoft Editor (yes, still an AI) to help them clean up any grammatical or spelling errors.

I’m hoping from this lesson they learned that some helpful ways to use ChatGPT can be for them to write a first draft, get a bit of help from AI, and then adjust their final product if the program did indeed give them something useful. And then, of course, to let it help them make sure of their grammar and spelling.

In other words, it’s only supplemental, not the final say.

Stay tuned. I’m still learning and working …

Just write one . . .

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Lunchtime was a big deal during my elementary school years. I recall spending much energy on exactly which lunchbox would provide my “ethos” for the upcoming year. After all, during every lunchtime, that lunchbox sat in front of me, open, back side available for all to see. Everyone at those long cafeteria tables would set up their boxes, pull out the thematically matched thermos and unscrew the cup and lid, take out the various foodstuffs, and spread it all out on the opened lid.

Yes. The lunchbox was ME. Who was I each year? Was I Holly Hobby? Peanuts? The simple butterfly design with flowers? Fairies?

The drama of the annual lunchbox choice still resides in my psyche.

So when I read Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird and her chapter about school lunches, I immediately resonated. As she describes, there’s so much going on when I consider my school lunches back in the mid-1960s. If I would try to write the scene, I might find myself overwhelmed. The lunchboxes, the long tables, the smell from the hot food line on pizza or taco day, the small square milk cartons, the cliques, the snack trading, the teachers walking around and monitoring, the noise and clatter before recess, the internal angst of walking across the cafeteria in a new outfit …

So much. Too much.

Lamott addresses this, giving advice to writers to not try to capture it all. Instead, to write the “one-inch picture frame.” To take a mental shot of the entire cafeteria scene, and then to Zoom in on one small piece of it — such as a lunchbox.

On her Instagram page beside a photo of a small picture frame, Lamott writes:

This is the 1” picture frame I keep on my desk to remind me that all I have to do one day at a time is to write the one scene or portrait that I can imagine or remember and see (if I squint) through that one inch picture frame. Not a whole chapter or essay or book, just one piece of that, the best I can do. I’ve had my writing students give these to each other for nearly 40 years now. It seems silly, but it helps a little, and that can be a miracle.

It sounds similar to Ernest Hemingway’s advice, in A Moveable Feast, to “write one true sentence”:

Sometimes when I was started on a new story and I could not get going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, “Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.”

One-inch frame . . . one true sentence.

The idea is to not get overwhelmed. To not give in to imposter syndrome. No matter how many chapters still to go, no matter how long the article, you can just write that one beautiful sentence. You can focus on that one small bit of the big picture, working word by word, sentence by sentence.

Eventually, yes, you’ll go back. You’ll edit. You’ll rearrange. You’ll cut. You’ll write more. But to get there, you need to start.

Break it down. Focus in. Take your time. A little bit every day.

One inch. One sentence.

My next teaching challenge: The AI effect

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The chair of my department came into my office and said, “Linda, brush up on AI. You’re going to need to teach your students to use it.” He was referring to my Essentials of Written Communication class, a class where I teach the format and strategy of different types of writing that is important to both their lives on campus and beyond into the business realm.

And I must teach my students to effectively and ethically use AI platforms (such as Chat GPT) to truly prepare them for their future careers. The world is heading that direction and they need to be ready.

I have to admit, I’m a little worried. I’m a veteran of the 5-1/4-inch floppy disk era. Even before that, I navigated my way from typing class in high school (on typewriters) to computers with various floppy disk sizes and on through the many, many versions of Microsoft Word (remember when “Clippy” would give writing advice?).

Clippy, courtesy of Mental Floss

And then came email (woo hoo! Files could be attached and sent instantaneously) and the Internet. So far I’ve managed to move through these past 50 years of my writing career with a minimum of turmoil.

But I have to admit that the world of Artificial Intelligence is setting me back on my heels a little. While many of my colleagues have embraced and are using it well, I’m setting aside January to catch up. Here’s my reading material, Teaching with AI.

I have my concerns. As a writer, I’m honestly worried about my students deferring to AI and not understanding the creativity needed for every kind of writing — an email, a news release, a report. Having an AI just generate these annoys every part of me.

But I’ve been teaching long enough to know that writing doesn’t come easily to everyone. Even as I teach my students to use programs like Grammarly or Microsoft Word’s editing tools on their papers means I already have been teaching them to use AI.

So as I prepare for my spring Essentials of Written Communication class, I will be rewriting my curriculum to continue to teach the formatting and structure of various types of writing, while planning for students to use AI. I plan to create assignments for them to write and then edit with AI; I’ll be showing them how their human touch is still vital to anything they use AI to create; I’ll be talking about the ethical use of AI so they understand its creative limitations (and potential for plagiarism).

As the book says, “It is essential that educators start to talk about these issues with students. if we want students to use AI responsibly, both in school and beyond, AI ethics must be baked into curriculum and include AI literacy, an emerging essential skill” (3).

Do you use AI? How has it helped you? What concerns do you have about its use?

What kinds of jobs can a writer get?

lindaktaylor4 Comments

OR How can I turn my writing into a career?

Helping my students turn their love for words and ability to write into a career is exactly what I’ve been trying to do with my life for the past 15 years.

I’m planning a class for spring 2025 that will be the introductory class to my Professional Writing major here at Taylor U. But I’ve set my sights a bit bigger as I also want to invite into the class any student who might be sitting around considering their major and thinking, “But I’m also a pretty good writer.” I want to offer a class where they can explore how their ability with words (which, believe me, isn’t something everyone has) can be leveraged into many types of jobs in their chosen fields.

Here’s the deal: Even though I teach the students who major in Professional Writing about the ins and outs of writing well and book publishing, I don’t leave them with the unrealistic dream that they’ll be able to make a living off the royalties from their published books (if, indeed, they get published). My students who have had their books published often still have day jobs — or have spouses who have day jobs. (I know you writers, laboring in the evenings or early mornings on your manuscripts in between bouts of “real life,” understand this.)

Gif from plaidswan.com

Most of my alumni are using their ability with words in many fields. I currently have former students in the following jobs:

  • Copy writer
  • Magazine editor
  • Book editor
  • Freelance editor
  • Digital content strategist
  • Communications director
  • Marketing director
  • SEO specialist
  • Publicist
  • Acquisitions editor
  • Literary agent
  • Author
  • Technical writer
  • Social media director
  • Proofreader
  • Email marketing manager
  • Blog writer
  • Web writer
  • Content writer

And no, AI is not going to replace all of these people. In fact, I plan to teach ways to use AI strategically to help us (and it can). However, we’re going to learn what we humans still need to know to help AI do its thing, as well as to help it deliver what’s needed.

Thus, as I create my syllabus for the coming semester, I hope to expose my students to the many opportunities available to anyone who can string words together in a coherent, concise, and clear manner. Good writers are desperately needed because content is desperately needed almost literally everywhere. Even writing a good email has become a lost art.

What jobs are you aware of that need good writers? Even if you’re a novelist by night or hammering away at your opus, where else do you use your writing skills?

Help me give my students some encouragement!

5 ways to stay sane on social media

lindaktaylor1 Comment

We all probably have a love/hate relationship with social media. In these difficult times, how can we stay sane (and Christian) on social media?

I have talked often about the Social Media Strategy class I teach each semester at Taylor U. This summer, I wanted to rethink the class to make sure I am staying on the cutting edge of what’s happening in the social media world. I read (and highly recommend to you) two books:

Following Jesus in a Digital Age by Jason Thacker (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2022)
Posting Peace by Douglas S. Bursch (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021)

I’d like to share with you a few takeaways that I also shared with my students, sourcing some quotes from these books as I go.

One key thing to realize right from the start: Technology is shaping our lives and our expectations.

We are so used to getting anything we want quickly. Amazon delivers in a couple of days. Have a question? Google it and have the answer in a matter of seconds. Click a button; get what we want.

The problem with this is that what’s real in life doesn’t work that way. Spiritual growth is a long, slow process that takes us a lifetime. There isn’t an app that will make us spiritual. Relationships — whether marriage or family or friends — take time and must weather ups and downs. How easy it is to decide something is too hard or taking too long, so we shut it down, let it go, turn away.

Technology has made us incredibly impatient. It has changed our expectations for how life should work. And not for the better.

So from these two books, I came away with 5 key points regarding our use of technology and social media that I shared with my class and I’d like to share with you. These are the things we need to keep in mind:

1. Keep in mind how social media is shaping us.

Wondering why social media can be such a toxic place (my goodness, especially now in a very divided country staring down a very divisive election)? Here’s what Bursch writes:

“Social media is more than just a medium for communication. The internet does more than magnify or amplify our expressions. Social media fundamentally changes what we say, when we say it, where we say it, why we say it, and how we say it. Most importantly, social media modifies who we are and what we are becoming. … [It is] revising our foundational understandings of moral decency, truth, and humanity.”  (Posting Peace, 25)

What can we do? We can slow down and process our thoughts. Not everything we think needs to be shared. It can be easy to hide behind a screen. We would be far better to chat with people in real life. It’s so simple to share posts without taking the time to actually educate ourselves, look for sources, find the facts. And, the capital T of God’s Truth should guide our every post and interaction.

Also realize that technology is monitoring everything we do and where we go online. If you’re more of a political liberal or a political conservative, you probably read certain sites and follow certain blogs. The algorithms are watching that and so sending you more of the same. What this does is entrench us into our divisions because we often don’t even see anything that disagrees with what we think.

2. Keep in mind how social media is causing us to lose our ability to build relationships.

Again from Bursch:

“Many individuals lack deep connections or the ability to form deep relational connection because they no longer have to maintain strong ties to function well in our online society. …Online communication ‘provides just enough connection to keep us from pursuing real intimacy. In a virtual community, our contacts involve little real risk and demand even less of us personally.’” (Posting Peace, 38, 39)

What can we do? We can realize that anything of value takes time to build, and what matters are those real people who are in our lives. Yes, we may have 900+ “friends” or “followers,” but, at the end of the day, who is going to be there for us? Are we taking the time and putting in the effort to strengthen our real relationships — the ones we have today, the new friends we could find tomorrow?

3. Keep in mind how social media affects our ability to handle conflict.

And life is full of conflict. But when we are impatient and don’t want to do the hard work, when we have not learned the basic skills for conflict management, we end up divided in our own camps, with no one able or willing to work on a compromise. We hunker down into our own little groups who agree with us and treat anyone who believes differently like an enemy. Bursch writes:

“In-person communication includes various verbal, facial, and environmental cues lost in online communication. … Because we’re not fully present online, capable of using all our senses, we don’t use our full brains to solve the relational complexities we face. When conflicts arise, we have fewer mental conflict processing tools at our disposal, which frequently leads to argumentative, depersonalized, detached, non-empathetic interactions.” (Posting Peace, 48)

What can we do? Think about how differently people deal with conflict online vs. conflict in person. People say things online they might never say to someone’s face. And rarely do those online conflicts lead to any kind of mutual respect and understanding. Real life discussions — even with differences of opinion or outright conflict — can do both. Let’s try to have more of those.

4. Keep in mind how we as believers must engage wisely.

Unfortunately, our world is filled with lies, manipulation, and gaslighting. We are at a point where we don’t know who is telling the truth; we don’t know who to believe. We as believers, writes Thacker,

“ . . . must engage any manipulation of truth in our world with eyes wide open. … We seek to understand the issues at stake and seek to apply God’s unchanging truths to our post-truth society. … We look bad news square in the eye (and learn more about it so that we might respond in a godly way) because our current hope and future security are in Christ, not in the culture around us.” (Following Jesus, 61-62)

What can we do? We need to be willing to do the work of seeking out the truth for ourselves, not simply believing and reposting every tweet or every Facebook post. We need to be people who focus back on the Truth, who can cut through the noise to the issues that are really at stake, and stand strong for what we believe.

5. Keep in mind how we as believers must honor the image of God in others.

Jesus must be our guide and model even as we engage in a world vastly different from 30 A.D. He taught us how to love others, and this must carry over into our online lives. Thacker writes:

“As Christians, our job is to testify to the reality of who God is and how he has made us to reflect him. The people we interact with online are not simply avatars. They are divine image bearers, just like you and me (Gen. 1:26-28). This means we must engage others online with grace and humility.” (Following Jesus, 66-67)

What can we do? Turn that social media time into prayer. Remember that behind that faceless X handle is a human being, and that human being has beliefs and opinions shaped by a plethora of experiences in his/her life. That’s why in-person conversations are so important, because that person becomes flesh and blood and you can get at what’s going on, why the person believes as he/she does. You can ask questions, follow up, share your own thoughts, reach an understanding or agree to disagree while still respecting each other’s place in God’s world. Absent the ability to chat in real life, let your social media feed become your prayer list instead of a place to argue (you’re not going to change anyone’s mind anyway). Everyone can use prayer.

We need to be careful today more than ever. What advice do you have for how you engage technology as a believer?