I don't fit in a neat box

Someone asked me what I've been up to this week. It's been a very detailed-focused week. I'm working on the pointy-end of the next issue of the magazine (i.e. the part when we finalise the text for the designer to work on it). This is the stage when I need to be hyper-alert to nailing down all the details and getting them right. That, for me, also involves, getting to a point of agreement with authors about their work. I also need to get to a point of agreement with our production team (designer and proofreader), but we work well together and usually this is fairly smooth. But sometimes we can get too detail focused—like how important is it to know whether or not to put that semicolon there or if a font looks exactly right—and I need to pull back a little and look at the bigger picture.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a bit of an all-rounder when it comes to the big-picture vs details dichotomy. I'm neither one nor the other. That's actually a helpful balance, at least in the work I usually do. It means I can juggle a job that requires intense concentration on details and stay fairly well on top of organising myriad things. But I can (usually) also step back and take in the bigger picture. But, like social vs alone time, I need a balance. Doing lots of ultra-detailed focusing tires me out. So does lots of big-picture stuff.

This is true in many systems of understanding humans: I don't fall into a neat box. But I think that is true for many people. We get a little bit stuck on questions like—"is she an introvert" or "is he an enneagram 5?" or "am I an ENTP or and INFP?" These systems of understanding personality are fascinating and sometimes helpful, but are they sometimes unhelpful? The older I get the more I struggle to answer the questions in these kinds of assessment. Thoughts like "Well, when I'm having coffee with Sue, I would do this, but if I was at work I'd do that. If I was really tired, I'd choose this, but if I had just had coffee on a Tuesday morning, I'd act like this." Truth is, I'm not consistent in how I react. 

My reactions are a combination of my personality, the immediate context, and what's gone before. Living cross-culturally hasn't helped, either. In Australia I act differently to in Japan! It's true. I really struggled with that when I first came here, it made me feel like I had a dual personality. Having a clear understanding of language and culture taken away from you can turn you into much more of an introvert than you used to be! You get much more observant, and work harder to interpret your context than you ever had to in your home country. Oh, did you know that I change how I speak according to who I'm speaking too, also? So an American won't usually hear me say, "I'm going to the toilet" but I would say that to a British person. British people won't usually hear me say, "See you this arvo" but an Australian might.

This can all be a bit exhausting! 

I'm glad God's given me the ability to read social situations and adapt to different contexts, because I've seen up close how that can go wrong, even in small ways. But I'm also glad that he's my dependable rock in the midst of all the shifting and changing. He doesn't require me to react in any specific way to earn approval with him. I often chastise myself for not concentrating in church, or falling asleep during prayer time with my husband. It's easy to have regrets about my past behaviour, to question if I've been the best parent I can be, etc. But I need to keep coming back to the solid truth that I'm loved regardless of how good or bad I am. And indeed, on my own, I can't ever be good enough to reach the standards God demands.

And with that thought, I'm winding down towards my weekend. I'm weary, how about you? Thankfully tomorrow's looking quiet!

Top ten tips for editors on working with writers

I've just discovered this blog post: it was in my draft folder, almost completely finished, but never published. I wrote it over a year ago. It think it's time to let it out into the wild. Of course most of you aren't editors, which is probably why I didn't end up publishing it. But, I've been reminded that many of us have to edit our words or other people's words, whether we identify as an editor or not. In the last year I've read The Subversive Copy Editor by Carol Fisher Saller. She says, 

"In the routines of almost any office job, a worker is likely to be responsible for a chunk of writing, and in any chunk of writing there is likely to be a problem. Solving problems with writers is what copyediting is."(p 3)

I like that: lots of us are editors, whether we think of that as part of our skill-set or not. I also like the idea that editors are problem solvers. That's what I love to do: solve problems!

By the way, it's an excellent book. I've underlined many passages in it. For example:

Editing "matters because inaccuracies and inconsistencies undermine a writer's authority, distract and confuse the reader, and reflect poorly on the company...Discriminating readers look for reasons to trust a writer and reasons not to . . . [We] help the writer forge a connection with the reader based on trust—trust that the writer is intelligent and responsible, and that her work is a reliable source." (p 10)

This book is about doing a good job as an editor (tonnes of practical hints about how to organise your work etc.) and but also also how to build a good relationship with writers. It's one of those books I'd love to have read before I started work as an editor—I had to learn so much by trial and error! 

Editors also need to build trust with their writers and that's not easy to do when you don't have a face-to-face relationship with them. I look back now and realise that most of the difficulties I had early on was that writers didn't trust me. And quite possibly I needed to do more to gain their trust than I did.

The three key words she emphases in her book are carefulness, transparency, and flexibility. 

I could go on and on about this book, but anyway, if editing is part of your job, I recommend you grab this book and read it. It'll be worth your while. You can skip past bits that don't apply to you, but a lot of it is very relevant if editing in some form and working with others with their words is part of what you do. Oh, and there's a chapter just for writers too!

Here is what I wrote in March last year:

Last week I taught a short session at a non-fiction book-writing workshop. Online, of course! I first talked about working with editors and, obviously, gave advice about how writers could work well with editors. At the end of that I asked for "bad experiences" with editors. I was shocked. My advice to editors, is the same as what I gave the writers (in this blog post): be professional and treat this work as a team event.

The best quote I've seen about editing was in an acknowledgement of a book I picked up recently. The author noted that the editor "was both an enthusiastic supporter of the author and a faithful advocate for the reader." This succinctly explains the careful tension that an editor must work under in order to do good work. I don't believe the best editor is one who has the best understanding of English. I think the best editor is one who can keep these two elements in mind while working.

"The relationship between writer and editor can be as complex as any marriage. The common perception seems to be that the editor holds all the power. [Magazine editor talking to writer] 'Do it my way, or forget about the assignment!' he bellows, 'And forget about ever working here—or anywhere else—ever again!'  (The Layers of Magazine Editing, Michael Robert Evans, p. 123-125)

In reality, the relationship is, or should be, much more balanced than that. Yes, the editor can block the publication of an article...[but] the last thing an editor wants to do is leave a good writer feeling abused, mistreated, neglected, or otherwise."

"Editors don't hold all the power. And they know that. So they work to keep their writers happy." (or they should!)

It is the "tension between nurturing and pressuring that makes the writer-editor relationship so delicate and challenging."

My philosophy is to remember whose name will be on this work at the end of the day. If it is the writer's name, then they hold more power than I do, though hopefully we've build a respect for one another that they at least hear my opinion and take advice. The caveat with that is that there might be other considerations, especially if this writing represents a group larger than the writer. For example, the magazine I edit is published by an organisation, and I can't let writing that violates their name go into the magazine. I work in social media for my mission organisation and can't let writing go out under that name, or on the website, that goes against its principles. 

What I do is somewhat different to book editing, in that I have fairly strict deadlines and word-limitations to keep to. So, sometimes I have to choose not to publish something, or seriously shorten something because of these limitations. I also have a team of people who help me with this publishing work, I have occasionally rejected an article because I deemed it unfair to demand my team do the excess amount of work that would be required to publish that author's work.

So here are my tips for any out there who edit other people's work:

1. This is not your work, it is the author's and will have their name on it, don't ever lose sight of that. Your goal is to make their writing shine. (The caveat to that from The Subversive Copy Editor, is that "it's not the author's right to offend or confuse the reader, defy the rules of standard English, fail to identify sources, or lower the standards of your institution.")
2. Be kind, but not dishonest. Writers, especially new or inexperienced writers can take changes to their work personally. It's a good policy to seek ways that you can legitimately encourage the writer.
3. If you think big changes are needed (eg. removing large amounts of content, changing structure, significant change in tone or audience or main focus, rewording larger segments), go back to the author and see if they can make the changes themselves. Explain your reasons. The best editors do as little rewriting as possible.
4. If rewriting is necessary, be willing to go back and forth on it with the author, giving clear direction as to what you're expected.
5. Editing is not black and white. A number of the changes you will want to make are instinct or opinion. There is usually more than one way to express something. So be willing to revise your decisions if a writer is adamant.
6. Good communication with writers is vital. Try to keep your communication succinct: not long-winded, but also not multiple emails/phone calls.
7. Be clear about what you want. For example, word length, audience, main emphasis, due date, tone, even how they format the article before sending it to you. This might chafe some writers, but it is better to have these things clear and avoid wasting the writer's time and then having to waste more time afterwards with major rewriting or worse. For this reason with Japan Harvest magazine, I ask for proposals before people write, so I have a chance to direct them in their writing before they've invested valuable time into writing.
8. Keep your readers in the forefront of your mind. Your goal is to help the writer communicate clearly with them.
9. Make sure you check your changes with the writer before you publish.
10. And again: be professional. That means be respectful, don't take things personally, do what you say you will do, and don't be unreasonable.

As a Christian I do my best to build a gracious relationship with writers. After all, as a Christian I am called to have a character full of these: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Gal. 5:22–23 NIVUK).

Thinking outside the box was helpful this week

A Pacific rhododendron I spied at
our meeting on Monday. Gorgeous!

This week started with a wonderful influx of people-time. On Monday we had a gathering of missionaries with our organisation. That was very busy with little time for free conversation, but after several months of not having the energy on the designated gathering-day, I was able to be there, which was great. 

The huge bonus was the 24 hrs following that time. One of my colleagues has become a close friend over the last couple of years. The main way we've invested in our relationship has been by regularly staying in touch through the week via texting. We have shared meals and picnicked with her family a few times.

But we've struggled to actually physically get together and have time for just the two of us, because we both juggle many responsibilities and live on opposite sides of the metropolis of Tokyo. It's over 1 ½ hrs by train or an hour by car, but the latter is expensive for one person as it involves tolls.

So after a couple of failed attempts, I jumped out of my box and suggested that I could have a sleep-over at her house after the meeting on Monday. My mother would have frowned at that if we were kids: I basically invited myself over to her house! But it worked. And we had a great time, in fact I struggled to leave when I had to head home again. Neither of us had taken a day off, so it was more like doing life together. I took my computer and we both worked between meals and coffee breaks. But it was great, and refreshing.

Since coming home I've struggled to concentrate on my work. That's actually been a problem throughout March, as we have been preparing for our trip to Australia mid-year. We've booked, cancelled, and rebooked flights; followed leads on accommodation and transport; lined up accomodation in a few places and found transport; communicated with family about schedule; investigated options and appointments for health needs; and many other things. It's been a buzz, but also a huge distraction. And then just last week daily life included accompanying my son to a passport interview and a medical appointment—that equalled more than a whole day of travelling around (not mentioning the stress plus recovery time from the stress). 

So just hanging out with a friend on Monday night and Tuesday felt like a calm amidst the storm, something of an oasis to mix my metaphors. I'm back in my boat in the storm now and need to get back to work, as crazy as that sounds.

Postscript: I wrote the above at the beginning of my working morning and after writing, went on to have a productive couple of hours of editing. I'm thankful. And sometimes writing works like that for me: it helps me process what's going on and then move on.

Camping in Tokyo again

It's been a week since we got back from our latest camping trip, so it's about time that I wrote about it. My days have been a bit crazy since then—I've visited the Australian embassy to renew a passport, plus I spent a morning taking my son to a medical appointment and a day packing magazines; not to mention time spent organising various other things related to our mid-year trip to Australia. After taking three days off to camp last week, it's not a surprise that my usual work has been pushed to one side a little bit, so I've been trying to catch up on that too. 

But the camping trip was worth it, as usual. It was also much anticipated, after we failed to secure a campsite last autumn. I still have this lingering feeling, though, that things we plan will get cancelled, so it was hard to get excited up until the actual day that we left.

We were a small group: just me and David, with two friends and two of their kids. It's a bit different camping with just six people (last time we camped with 11, three of which were teenage boys with big appetites). We're thinking about the future, though—for Christmas we bought a tent-for-two, which we enjoyed trying out. We also used less equipment, including a scaled-down kitchen setup.

Our new tent is lower in profile and includes an entry area which can be enclosed on all sides. It made getting in and out easier in the rain. The main challenge was figuring out how to get our bottom halves dressed when our airbed took up almost all the floorspace inside.

The campsite is only 46 km away (still within Tokyo Prefectural borders), but in typical Tokyo fashion, took over two hours to get to. Upside was that there were no toll roads involved, so it was a cheaper journey. In fact the campsite itself is super cheap as it's owned by the Tokyo government. This is actually the very first campsite that we ever used in Japan, back in 2011. We camped there one more time in 2012, but haven't gone back since, for a few reasons. It was fun to return, even if we didn't have our boys with us this time.

It was chilly, though. The forecast on Thursday, our only "whole day" there, was 20C, but I reckon if it made it that high, it was only for about 30 minutes. Mid morning the temperature started dropping and rain set in by mid afternoon and continued all night. We narrowly missed getting snowed on, as you can see from this photo taken from our campsite on Friday morning, snow fell on the slopes above our campsite.

Our friend brought his and his son's mountain bikes and did a couple of rides, but he was frustrated by the strict rules about where they could and couldn't ride. The second night we had to lock both bikes in our van as we were prohibited from keeping them at the campsite and had to put them in the separate car park a few hundred metres away down the mountain.

Food is one of the main events of camping—at least that's my opinion. When we camp with our friends we share meal preparation, which makes it easier, and even a bit more fun. We did one dinner and one breakfast each and took care of our own lunches. The dinner we provided was potatoes in foil with BBQ chicken drumsticks and onion, served with mixed vegetables. Oh so yummy! It was pouring rain at the time, we were very thankful for the solid camp kitchen that gave us even better shelter than our usual tarpaulin-covered kitchen.

Common sassafras

We were up in the mountains, so there were less signs of spring than in warmer Tokyo, so it wasn't a terribly picturesque camp. However a few lonely flowers were out and some trees had leaf buds about to pop.

Hairy bittercress, smaller than my little 
finger nail.

Early on Thursday afternoon we walked down to Lake Okutama to see what we could see. But there wasn't a lot. The wettest part of the year is still ahead of us, so the lake was fairly low and therefore the inlet at the bottom of the campsite looked a bit like a moonscape. We had to walk a long way to get to the water. We have memories of bringing the boys here in summer, really early in our camping journey, and playing in a fast-flowing, shallow stream that feeds into the lake. There wasn't much evidence of that play-place this year. We did find a cool-looking rusted out old jeep, though!

There was moss everywhere.

It's been a while since this access hole was opened!

It's moss, not grass!

Pathway "paved" in moss.

Tall, straight trees lined the mountainsides all around.

Our campsite on Wednesday afternoon, while the sun still shone.

I really didn't take many photos. This trip was like putting on an oxygen mask: much needed for recovery, but I was too tired to do much beyond the necessary.

We're planning a trip to Australia mid-year, so we won't get to camp again until October. Already looking forward to that trip!