january 2011

WEST COAST EDITOR

NEWSLETTER OF THE BC BRANCH OF THE EDITORS ’ ASSOCIATION OF CANADA

DRIVE - BY
EDITING
EAC - BC is a proud supporter of the serial comma
 WEST COAST EDITOR Drive-by fixation
January 2011
Welcome to West Coast Editor’s 2nd annual Drive-by Editing
West Coast Editor is the newsletter of
the Editors’ Association of Canada, BC issue. This year, we’re pleased to feature 13 photos from a variety
Branch. It is published eight times a of locations: Hanceville, Kamloops, Khartoum Lake, New West-
year. Views expressed in these pages do
not necessarily reflect those of EAC or minster, North Vancouver, and Vancouver, BC, and even one from
EAC-BC. Send questions or comments to Windsor, Nova Scotia. Thanks to everyone who sent us your
westcoasteditor@editors.ca.
photos. We’re thrilled to know that West Coast Editor’s fixation
PUBLISHER AND MAILING ADDRESS with looking for grammatical and typographical mistakes in public
EAC-BC
Bentall Centre Post Office, Box 1688 signage is a condition shared by many!
Vancouver, BC V6C 2P7
www.editors.ca/bc
We’re also pleased to announce the winners of the Drive-by editing
BRANCH COORDINATOR contest that closed on November 1, 2010: Christine Dudgeon,
Miro Kinch: bccoordinator@editors.ca
Shari Yore, and Margot Senchyna. Each can choose an “I love
WEBMASTER serial commas” or a “Serial commas are silly” coffee mug as her
Margot Senchyna:
bcwebmaster@editors.ca prize (see below).
EAC-BC BRANCH EXECUTIVE
2010–2011
Chair Hugh Macdonald:
bcchair@editors.ca

Past Chair Karen Reppin:

bcpastchair@editors.ca
������
It’s . Canadian editors LO VE serial commas
In December 2009, Active Voice sponsored a nationwide vote
.

on the controversial comma, a follow-up to the BC vote conducted by WEST COAST EDITOR the previous year. Of the total votes cast,
BC National Rep Theresa Best: 77% were “For” the comma, 22% were “Against,” and 1% were “Undecided.” NATIONAL RESULTS: For: 320 (77%);
Against: 93 (22%); Undecided: 5 (1%). REGIONAL RESULTS: Western Canada: For: 127 (79%); Against: 33 (20%);
bcnationalrep@editors.ca Undecided: 2 (1%). Central Canada: For: 175 (78%); Against: 48 (21%); Undecided: 2 (1%).
Eastern Canada: For: 18 (60%); Against: 11 (37%); Undecided: 1 (3%). Overseas: For: 1 (100%).

Hotline Chair Tina Robinson: I love serial commas.

bchotline@editors.ca Take care. This WEST COAST EDITOR mug may contain a ferociously hot beverage.

Member Services Chair Marlene

MacIsaac: bcmemberservices@editors.ca While most Canadian editors LOVE
serial commas, a small—but ����������
—minority
disagrees. In December 2009, Active Voice sponsored a nationwide vote on the controversial comma. Of the total
votes cast, 77% were “For” the comma, 22% were “Against,” and 1% were “Undecided.” NATIONAL RESULTS: For: 320 (77%);
Against: 93 (22%); Undecided: 5 (1%). REGIONAL RESULTS: Western Canada: For: 127 (79%); Against: 33 (20%);
Professional Development Co-chairs Undecided: 2 (1%). Central Canada: For: 175 (78%); Against: 48 (21%); Undecided: 2 (1%).
Eastern Canada: For: 18 (60%); Against: 11 (37%); Undecided: 1 (3%). Overseas: For: 1 (100%).
Holly Munn, Tina Robinson:
bcworkshops@editors.ca
Serial commas are silly.
Take care. This WEST COAST EDITOR mug may contain a ferociously hot beverage.

Programs Co-chairs
Michele Satanove, Margot Senchyna:
bcprograms@editors.ca

Public Relations Chair Jessica Klassen:

bcpr@editors.ca

Secretary David Harrison:

EDITORIAL AND DESIGN STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE
bcsecretary@editors.ca EDITOR AND HOUSE WRITER: Cheryl Hannah, channah@editors.ca
COPY EDITORS:Kathleen Bolton, Dianne Fowlie PROOFREADERS: Christine
Treasurer Barbara Dominik:
bctreasurer@editors.ca Dudgeon, Jennifer Getsinger, Joanne White EXECUTIVE CONTRIBUTORS: Holly
West Coast Editor Co-chairs
Munn, Michele Satanove, Margot Senchyna, Tina Robinson DESIGNER AND
Cheryl Hannah, Hugh Macdonald: PHOTOGRAPHER: Cheryl Hannah GUEST PHOTOGRAPHERS: Christine Dudgeon,
westcoasteditor@editors.ca
James Hannah, John Hannah, Frances Peck, Margot Senchyna, Shari Yore
FRONT AND BACK COVERS: Cheryl Hannah

2 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

 Frances Peck (“Drive-by
Editing,” page 14), a partner
with West Coast Editorial
s

Associates, has been an

n
catio

editor and writer for over 20

y lo

years. She teaches editing at

e-b
Driv

Douglas College and Simon

Fraser University and gives
workshops across Canada. Her
recent projects include Peck’s
English Pointers, an e-book
of her columns for the journal
Language Update.

Margot Senchyna (“Drive-

by Editing,” page 19) is a
Contents Vancouver-based freelance
editor and artist with a
04 Letters: Gary Lund, West Coast Editor background in cultural
05 Poetic fibs: a contest preservation. When not working
with words, she can be found
06 Curios: Canadian men excel at romance working with digital or acrylic
09 Drive-by Editing photographs paints in her home studio. She
currently volunteers on the
22 Etcetera branch executive and maintains
the EAC-BC web pages.

Shari Yore (“Drive-by Editing,”

Contributors page 9) is a Victoria-based
editor who specializes in editing
Christine Dudgeon (“Drive-by in signs: road signs, shop academic articles and herding
Editing,” page 18) is an indexer signs, residential signs, any academic cats through the APA
and a proofreader. In her spare signs. She makes shameless maze. She also coordinates
time she explores the Powell use of her role with West Coast the production of books (which
River region by hiking the Editor to legitimize her fixation. involves keeping 1 author and
trails and indulging in her new 1 publishing company happy)
obsession: geocaching (a kind Jessica Klassen (“Editors’ and journal special issues
of treasure hunt with a GPS show and tell” event (which involves keeping 10–15
device). review, page 23) is a New authors, 2–3 co-editors, and 1
Westminster-based editor with publishing company happy). To
Cheryl Hannah (“Drive- an appetite for editing fiction. subsidize her travel habit, Shari
by Editing,” pages 11–13, She can simultaneously power conducts occasional academic
15–17, 21) is an editor and through a manuscript while writing workshops in places
communications consultant snuggling her cat, and she such as Taiwan, Australia, and
who is fixated with looking for enjoys eavesdropping on South Africa.
typos and grammatical mishaps SkyTrain conversations.
JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 3
“I feel as if there were an awful lot to say, but there’s so little WCE LETTERS
time and so much talking.”
Source: The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers, Barbara Reynolds, ed., 1995

Letters
The value of editors: 30 percent Complete the proverb
I wonder if you have seen this blog post: “A Recently, we received a chain email purporting
Fourth of July lesson in the value of editors.” It to bear editor-friendly trivia. On a whim, we
presents a compelling case for the value of editors. decided to bite. We clicked. It opened. To our
surprise, it did contain some mildly amusing
Here’s an excerpt: wordplay.

Because editors are often seen as Here’s the gist. A school teacher—the email
unnecessary, we at IBM conducted a didn’t specify who she was, where she taught,
study to demonstrate their value for some or when this happened—gave each of her grade
of our marketing pages. We took a sample 1 students the first half of a proverb; she then
of unedited pages with high traffic from asked them to complete it.
across our various business units and ran
them through … the editing lead for the Here are 13 of our favourites:
group that creates a lot of our marketing
content. We then ran an A/B test, where Strike while the … bug is close.
we served the unedited versions to a A miss is as good as a … Mr.
random sample of users and the edited
You can’t teach an old dog new … Math.
versions to the rest of the users. We then
measured engagement … on those pages An idle mind is … the best way to relax.
over the course of a month. Where there’s smoke there’s … pollution.
A penny saved is … not much.
The results were astonishing. The mean
difference in engagement was [an Children should be seen and not … spanked or grounded.
improvement of] 30 percent across the set If at first you don’t succeed … get new batteries.
of pages. And the standard deviation was When the blind lead the blind … get out of the way.
one percent.
Don’t change horses … until they stop running.
Here’s the link: http://writingfordigital.com Two’s company, three’s … the Musketeers.
/2010/07/04/a-fourth-of-july-lesson-in-the Don’t bite the hand that … looks dirty.
-value-of-editors.
The pen is mightier than the … pigs.

Gary Lund,
Vancouver —West Coast Editor

4 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

 poetic fibs a contest
Here’s a fib
Here’s an example,
composed by Cheryl
Hannah during a recent
Tell us a fib family ski vacation (full disclosure: she
While doing research for the two “Damn was collapsed on a couch at the time,
you, English Language!” issues, WCE nursing her bruises):
staffers stumbled upon a new form of
poetry born of the Internet: the fib. Snow
Snakes
What’s a fib? Lurking
A fib, explains Ben Macintyre in The Beneath me.
Last Word, “is a six-line, twenty- Quiet. Coiled. Ready.
syllable poem in which the number of Oh! No! They’ve got me by my skis!
syllables in each line is the sum of the
syllables in the two preceding lines. Entry deadline
This corresponds to the Fibonacci Please send a maximum of 3 original
sequence, one of the most elegant fibs to westcoasteditor@editors.ca
patterns in mathematics, in which by March 16, 2011. Poems will be
each successive number is the sum reviewed by a panel of senior EAC-BC
of the two previous numbers: 1, 1, editors. Three winners will be chosen:
2, 3, 5, 8 . . .” (Technically, a fib the “geekiest fib,” the “fib with the
can continue indefinitely, although best consonance,” and the “fib with
Macintyre calculates that by the time the best alliteration.” Additionally, all
you’d reached the 20th line, you’d have entries will be published in the June
to compose a line containing 6,765 2011 “Secret Lives of Editors” issue.
syllables.) (N.B. Only fibs written by EAC-BC
members will be published.)
Macintyre variously refers to fibs as
the “ultimate form of geek poetry,” Prizes
“an enjoyable parlour game, a way Winners can choose between a West
to force words into a pattern,” and Coast Editor, I love serial commas, or
as “a cross between a haiku and an Serial commas are silly limited edition
equation, at once free and regulated.” coffee mug.
Bottom line? They’re fun to write.

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 5

“I admit a liking for novels where something happens.” WCE QUOTES & CURIOSITIES
Source: A Book-Lover’s Holiday in the Open, Theodore Roosevelt,
1916, Buried in Books, Julie Rugg, 2010

Canadian men excel at romance

Romance, Adventure, Children’s Literature, Detective, Fantasy Fiction, Historical Fiction, Purple
Prose, Science Fiction, Vile Puns, and Western: these are the entry categories for a literary competition
sponsored by the English department at San José State University. Since 1982, its English department
has sponsored the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a contest that challenges writers to compose an
opening sentence to the “worst of all possible novels.”† This year, both the winner and runner-up in the
Romance category were Canadians: Ontarian Paul Chafe and Nova Scotian Jonathan Blay. (See page 7
for their winning entries.)

The contest is the brainchild

of Professor Scott Rice, who,
when a graduate student, was
asked to write a paper on a

curios minor Victorian novelist. He

chose Lord Edward Bulwer
Lytton††, author of (arguably)
the English language’s most
infamous opening sentence: “It
was a dark and stormy night.”

Here’s the sentence in full:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals,
when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in
London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty
flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness. (Paul Clifford, Edward Bulwer
Lytton, 1830)

Years later, after being “conscripted numerous times to be a judge in writing contests that were, in
effect, bad writing contests but with prolix, overlong, and generally lengthy submissions, [Professor
Rice] struck upon the idea of holding a competition that would be honest and—best of all—invite brief
entries.Ӡ

Want to try your hand at crafting a Bulwer-Lyttonesque sentence? Go to www.bulwer-lytton.com for

complete contest details. The official submission deadline is April 15, 2011.

† www.bulwer-lytton.com, accessed September 7, 2010

†† While the Bulwer Lyttons do not hyphenate their surname, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest does.

6 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

“In a library it’s hard to avoid reading.” WCE QUOTES & CURIOSITIES
—From a student essay
Source: The Miracle of Language, Richard Lederer, 1991

Romance category: winner Lytton: the man and his town

“‘Trent, I love you,’ Fiona murmured, and her The tiny town of Lytton (self-proclaimed rafting
nostrils flared at the faint trace of her lover’s capital of BC) was named after the notorious
masculine scent, sending her heart racing and Lord Edward Bulwer Lytton himself.
her mind dreaming of the life they would live
In August 2008, Lytton hosted the “Proff [sic]
together, alternating sumptuous world cruises
vs. Toff” debate. The debate pitted the author’s
with long, romantic interludes in the mansion on
great-great-great grandson the Honourable
his private island, alone together except for the Henry Lytton Cobbold against Professor
maids, the cook, the butler, and Dirk and Rafael, Rice. The debate marked Lytton’s 150-year
the hard-bodied pool boys.” anniversary. To promote it, Lytton’s mayor
wrote letters to the media declaring that the
Paul Chafe, town of Lytton was fed up: “For years, Professor
Toronto, Ontario Rice has been making sport of Lord Edward
George Bulwer Lytton, with his Bulwer-Lytton
Romance category: runner-up Fiction Contest. Lord Lytton was both a
statesman and an author. As colonial secretary,
“She purred sensually, oozing allure that
he helped create the Crown Colony of British
was resisted only by his realization as an
Columbia in 1858.”1
entomologist that the protein dust on the couch
from the filing of her crimson nails was now PROFESSOR SCOTT’S PRE-DEBATE OFFENSIVE:
being devoured by dust mites in a clicking, “The evil that men do lives after them, in
ferocious, ecstatic frenzy.” Lytton’s case in 27 novels whose perfervid
turgidity I intend to expose, denude, and
Jonathan Blay, generally make visible.”2
Bedford, Nova Scotia
HENRY LYTTON COBBOLD’S PRE-DEBATE
COUNTER OFFENSIVES: “I very strongly feel that
See page 8 for more Bulwer-Lytton Fiction to be the first person to come up with a cliché is
genius … the words are clichéd but if you’re the
Contest winning entries. Also on page 8: sourcing
first to pen them then surely that’s … something
information for all the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction
to be proud of”3 and “the town of Lytton is going
Contest winners showcased in this issue as well to be more inclined to support me [than Scott];
as sourcing information for “Lytton: the man and Bulwer Lytton made them quite happy—it’s
his town.” partly because of him that they didn’t end up
being part of America.”4

And the winner? Henry Lytton Cobbold, who

was able to convince the audience that “his
ancestor’s purple prose pen was mightier than
the Proff’s [sic] sword of scorn.”5

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 7

“The pen is mightier than the sword.” WCE QUOTES & CURIOSITIES
Source: Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu, 1838, The International Thesaurus
of Quotations, compiled by Eugene Ehrlich and Marshall DeBruhl, 1996

Detective category: winner Overall: winner

“She walked into my office wearing a body that “For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity’s
would make a man write bad checks, but in this affair, they greeted one another at every stolen
paperless age you would first have to obtain rendezvous with a kiss—a lengthy, ravenous
her ABA Routing Transit Number and Account kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity’s
Number and then disable your own Overdraft mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water
Protection in order to do so.” bottle and he were the world’s thirstiest gerbil.”

Steve Lynch, Molly Ringle,

San Marcos, California Seattle, Washington

Detective category: runner-up Overall: runner-up

“As Holmes, who had a nose for danger, quietly “Through the verdant plains of North Umbria
fingered the bloody knife and eyed the various walked Waylon Ogglethorpe and, as he walked,
body parts strewn along the dark, deserted the clouds whispered his name, the birds of the
highway, he placed his ear to the ground and, air sang his praises, and the beasts of the fields
with his heart in his throat, silently mouthed to from smallest to greatest said, ‘There goes the
his companion, ‘Arm yourself, Watson, there is most noble among men’—in other words, a
an evil hand afoot ahead.’” typical stroll for a schizophrenic ventriloquist
with delusions of grandeur.”
Dennis Pearce,
Lexington, Kentucky Tom Wallace,
Columbia, South Carolina

Sources: page 7 3. “Toff and Prof to Duke it out in 5. “2020 Vision: A Proposal to
1. “‘Literary Tragedy’ of Bulwer- Literary Slugfest over ‘Dark and Stormy Reinvent the Gold Rush Trails as
Lytton’s Dark and Stormy Night under Night’ Author,” Jeremy Hainsworth, the New Pathway to Gold,” New
Debate,” Alison Flood, The Guardian, Breitbart, August 16, 2008, Pathways to Gold Society, May 2009,
August 19, 2008, www.guardian.co.uk www.breitbart.com/article.php?id www.cariboord.bc.ca/crddirectors
/culture/2008/aug/19/2, accessed =cp_g87bodjpi13&show_article=1, /2009%20agendas/June/June%2019
November 28, 2010 accessed November 28, 2010 ,%202009/June19_2020Vision
_NPTGS.pdf, accessed September
2. “‘Literary Tragedy’ of Bulwer- 4. “‘Literary Tragedy’ of Bulwer- 20, 2010
Lytton’s Dark and Stormy Night under Lytton’s Dark and Stormy Night under
Debate,” Alison Flood, The Guardian, Debate,” Alison Flood, The Guardian, Sources: page 7, 8
August 19, 2008, www.guardian.co.uk August 19, 2008, www.guardian.co.uk All six Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
/culture/2008/aug/19/2, accessed /culture/2008/aug/19/2, accessed opening sentences from www.bulwer
November 28, 2010 November 18, 2010 -lytton.com/2010.htm, accessed
November 28, 2010

8 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

CATEGORY
Grammar (word usage)
Punctuation (type of dash)

LOCATION
Canadian national lifestyle magazine

PHOTOGRAPHER
Shari Yore

DATE
August 2010

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 9

 CATEGORY
Grammar (word usage)

LOCATION
Windsor, NS

PHOTOGRAPHER
James Hannah

DATE
August 2010

10 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

CATEGORY
Grammar (word usage)

LOCATION
New Westminster, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Cheryl Hannah

DATE
August 2010

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 11

 CATEGORY
Grammar (word usage)

LOCATION
BC local newspaper

PHOTOGRAPHER
Cheryl Hannah

DATE
July 2010

12 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

CATEGORY
Grammar (sentence structure)

LOCATION
New Westminster, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Cheryl Hannah

DATE
August 2010

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 13

 CATEGORY
Punctuation (missing)

LOCATION
North Vancouver, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Frances Peck

DATE
August 2010

14 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

CATEGORY
Punctuation (greengrocer’s apostrophe)

LOCATION
New Westminster, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Cheryl Hannah

DATE
December 2009

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 15

 CATEGORIES
Punctuation
Spelling
Capitalization

LOCATION
New Westminster, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Cheryl Hannah

DATE
August 2010

16 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

CATEGORIES
Punctuation
Spelling
Symbol (reversed)

LOCATION
New Westminster, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Cheryl Hannah

DATE
August 2010

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 17

 CATEGORIES
Spelling
Grammar (parallelism)
Punctuation

LOCATION
Khartoum Lake, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Christine Dudgeon

DATE
May 2010

18 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

CATEGORIES
Grammar (sentence structure)
Spelling
Punctuation

LOCATION
Vancouver, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Margot Senchyna

DATE
October 2010

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 19

 CATEGORY
Spelling

LOCATION
Hanceville, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
John Hannah

DATE
May 2010

20 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

CATEGORY
Spelling

LOCATION
Kamloops, BC

PHOTOGRAPHER
Cheryl Hannah

DATE
December 2009

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 21

 with the writer as she goes back in
to fix it.

Additionally, participants will look

etcetera at scenes and the other building

blocks of narrative; review a
checklist of things to try when
a novel sags in the middle; find
ways to make exposition power the
narrative engine instead of clogging
it up; talk about the non-linear
UPCOMING EVENTS Place: YWCA narrative, the free indirect narrator,
EAC-BC SPEAKER SESSION: 535 Hornby Street the shifting point of view, and other
WHAT ARE YOU WORTH? Welch Room, 4th floor special situations; and finally, “get
HOW TO PRICE YOUR Vancouver microscopic,” with a handful of tips
EDITING SERVICES on how any writer can deploy craft
January 19, 2011 YWCA is located on the west to achieve art.
side of Hornby Street, between
Guest speaker: Cerina Wheatland Dunsmuir and Pender, one block Mary Schendlinger has worked as
northeast of the Burrard SkyTrain an editor and publisher for 40 years.
Putting a dollar value on our editing Station. Parking is available across She is co-founder and senior editor
skills, abilities, and experience can the street for $5.00 after 6:00 pm. of Geist. She teaches the editing
be a daunting task. Join us at our Street parking is also available. seminar and book publishing project
January meeting and learn how to in the SFU Master of Publishing
charge for your work, Guest speaker Information: www.editors.ca/node Program, short publishing courses
Cerina Wheatland will help us make /904 or bcprograms@editors.ca for the SFU Writing & Publishing
sense of this puzzle in a practical Program, and a course in graphic
and entertaining way. EAC-BC SEMINAR: novel and manga for the UBC
EDITING NARRATIVE Creative Writing Program.
Cerina has worked in project February 12, 2011
management, research and analysis, Registration for this seminar closes
strategic business planning, Instructor: Mary Schendlinger February 4, 2011, at midnight.
communications, marketing, and
sales in both the private and public The ability to edit narrative is one Time: 10:00 am–4:00 pm
sectors. Her services include of the most useful skills the editor
business consulting, editing, and can acquire. Narrative is the driving Cost: $100 for EAC members who
freelance writing. force of a story, and it plays a register by January 28, 2011 (after:
strong supporting role in exposition, $120); $160 for non-members who
We will draw for a door prize at the argument, and essay. This workshop register by January 28, 2011 (after:
end of the evening. The winner will will offer specific approaches to $180)
receive free admission to one EAC- editing narrative: short and long,
BC seminar. fiction and non-fiction, reportage Place: SFU Harbour Centre Campus
and life writing, prose and graphica 515 W. Hastings Street, Room 2260
Time: 7:30 pm (comics). Vancouver

Cost: Free for members; $10 for Participants will learn techniques to Registration: www.gifttool.com
non-members; $5 for students with evaluate a narrative—the big picture /registrar/ShowEventDetails?ID
valid ID and the small picture—and to work =1262&EID=8088

22 WEST COAST EDITOR JANUARY 2011

EVENT REVIEW • The OED can be accessed stacks of gingerbread men
EAC-BC SPEAKER SESSION: online at Vancouver Public decorated with silver dragées, you
EDITORS’ SHOW AND TELL Library (by card holders) may be vaguely disturbed to learn
November 17, 2010 for free: www.vpl.ca. that many silver dragées are made
with real silver (element 47, Ag).
Facilitator: Peter Moskos • Onelook is an online search But don’t worry, says geologist (and
Reviewer: Jessica Klassen tool that searches several writer, editor, and WCE staffer)
online dictionaries at once: Jennifer Getsinger. Silver is edible
Our Editors’ Show and Tell night www.onelook.com. if eaten in very small amounts.
was the first of its kind and a great
success. It was an opportunity for • GeoSearch is an online tool
members to share the gadgets and provided by Stats Canada for NEW EAC-BC MEMBERS
resources they can’t do without, finding correct place names: Molly Armstrong, Port Moody
to learn some new tricks, and to http://geodepot.statcan.ca Melanie Chernyk, Victoria
expand their own libraries. The /Diss/GeoSearch/index.cfm Lisa Collins, Vancouver
evening’s discussion was facilitated ?lang=E. Kyle Crane, Kelowna
by Peter Moskos. Darlene Denesyk, Vancouver
• Lake Superior State University Jason Hall, Vancouver
Conversation ranged over a variety has a list of banished words. Noah Moscovitch, Burnaby
of topics. It started with home-office Offenders are listed for “Mis- Helen Polychronakos, Vancouver
necessities (stopwatch, footstool, use, Over-use and General Cathi Shaw, Summerland
great chair) and moved through how Uselessness”: www.lssu.edu Heather Walmsley, Vancouver
to bill hours (Excel spreadsheets /banished. Elizabeth Wilson, Vancouver
and timeEdition software), various
other editing software options, Thanks to everyone who
contributed and made our first Show
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Seasonal Affective Disorder (I
West Coast Editor is accepting
learned that I could purchase a and Tell a success!
submissions. Please contact Cheryl
SAD lamp at Costco for a very
at westcoasteditor@editors.ca to
reasonable price), and an editor’s
NOW YOU KNOW discuss your ideas.
bookshelf.
AN EAC-BC SURVEY IS
HEADING YOUR WAY April 2011: Market your
So what resource books can’t
EAC-BC is looking for information editing business
BC editors do without? Here’s a
that will help make our monthly Copy deadline: March 9, 2011
sampling: the Canadian Oxford
meetings and Saturday seminars Theme: Marketing success stories
Dictionary, The Canadian Press
interesting and relevant for as and tips
Stylebook, The Canadian Press
Caps and Spelling, The Chicago many members as possible. To this
end, programs co-chairs Michele May 2011: Volunteer with EAC-BC
Manual of Style, one of the
Satanove and Margot Senchyna Copy deadline: April 6, 2011
Merriam-Webster dictionaries, The
will be conducting a survey. Keep Theme: EAC-BC 2011 elections
Deluxe Transitive Vampire, the
an eye on your inboxes: you will and volunteer profiles
Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, various be receiving a link to our Survey
Monkey questionnaire soon. June 2011: Secret lives of editors
EAC publications, and a thesaurus.
Copy deadline: May 4, 2011
SILVER DRAGEES CONTAIN Theme: A showcase of the creative
Lastly, here are some of the
REAL SILVER (non-editing related) work of BC
interesting and useful miscellanea
If you spent your Christmas editors (e.g., poetry, art, creative
put forward by our members:
holidays eating your way through writing, photography)

JANUARY 2011 WEST COAST EDITOR 23

 we want you !
We are looking for a new

social chair . Becoming social chair is agreat way

to make a valuable contribution to the BC branch without having to commit to a lot
of time each month. All members in good standing are eligible.

RESPONSIBILITIES are minimal: the social chair is responsible for

catering at the monthly general meetings and for maintaining a supply of coffee, tea,
cups, napkins, and plates. Something new: this year, if the social chair
feels so inspired, he or she can elect to organize and host a members-and-guests
“spring fling” dinner party or reception.

2–3 hours per month (this

Time commitment:
includes the time you will spend listening to the guest
speaker!)
Interested? Contact Miro Kinch at bccoordinator@editors.ca.