What does it mean to be a good editor?

As someone who has worked with a wide range of writers, my focus is always on readability and getting the right story across. Sometimes that means doing the extra research to fact check dense numbers that communicate a story. Sometimes that means re-writing a chunk to translate from insider speak to outsider-friendly copy. Sometimes that means just sitting back and letting a writer do the majority of the leg work.

From fitness gurus communicating their interests to novices, to water operators getting thirty + years of experience into an article, as an editor I’m looking for the heart of the matter so I can get that heart onto the page.

I had an unbelievable amount of FOMO doing the transcription, then editing for this article written by Melanie Moore for Austin Fit Magazine, where I was an intern and a contributor. Willie is a genuine guy, passionate about food and about feeding Austinites.

While it can be really tough job, one of my favorite types of editing work is technical in focus. I like to help a bottle of genius open up, and my curiosity makes me a great sounding board for explaining new concepts. For Texas Rural Water Association, this technical editing is a main part of getting magazines out the door. Our members are operators and general managers with deep knowledge of the rural water industry, the articles they read have to be written by people who really know what they’re talking about.