Like many, many other editors, I’ve always loved books and stories, and I was naturally inclined to work with words.
I’ve been an editor since 1999. My first job was Copy Editor for the Ferris State Torch. I aced the editing test as an incoming freshman, was hired on the spot, and worked there all through college. I graduated from Ferris State University with a B.A. in English (specializing in literature) and a minor in Communications, and I was a member of Lambda Pi Eta, the official honor society of the National Communication Association.
I majored in Technical and Professional Communication (i.e., tech writing) before switching to the English program. My TCOM adviser once looked at all the classes I wanted to take, then smiled at me and said, “You just want to be educated.” And that was even before I took Shakespeare, a survey of science fiction, or two semesters each of art history and Latin. One of the best parts of running Last Syllable Editorial is that my wide-ranging interests come in handy — and another great part is that each new project is a little bit different from what I’ve done before.
After college, I did a little freelance editing here and there, and in 2006, I took a full-time proofreading position at Monotype (now Six Red Marbles). In 2010, I moved back home to Michigan and hung out my shingle again. I also worked as a captioning editor at Closed Captioning Services (my favorites to caption were cooking shows and The Young and the Restless) from 2010 until the company’s merger with VITAC in 2012.
From January 2013 to May 2019, I ran Last Syllable Editorial full-time, providing top-notch editorial and proofreading services to help my clients’ texts shine. The Academic & Educational, Fiction & Memoir, and Spirituality tabs have my book and project lists in those areas. And, just to defy neat categorization, from 2014 to 2019 I was also the Friday night/weekend copy editor for the Entertainment channel at SheKnows, editing articles on award shows, celebrity news and gossip, recaps of Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead… you name it.
As of 2019, however, I work full-time at Michigan State University as a data coordinator and editor in marketing and communications. Although closing up shop would have made the most sense, the transition from stable freelancer to full-time employee did not happen at once, so I’ve continued to edit for a couple of clients into 2020.
About the Blog
I’ve kept up some kind of blog or other since 2002, and I started this website in 2005 as a Shakespeare blog. The name of the blog, and now the business, comes from the famous “Tomorrow” speech in Macbeth. The phrase “to the last syllable of recorded time” resonates strongly with me; I like the way it includes the spoken word and the written word, just as my work has included both. The Shakespeare blog was moderately successful for about a year, as I wrote about going to a Shakespeare & Co. weekend acting intensive and read plays and raised a little money for the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival (which closed in 2010, unfortunately). I still get overly excited about Shakespeare now and again.
Mission Statement
Through being my authentic and sovereign self, to attract clients who resonate with me and with my unique skills and abilities, and to use all the tools at my disposal to shape and transform my clients’ work in a way that communicates their fullest meaning.
(Phrased differently: I do my thing and you get pretty words.)