October 2020 Editors WA

Jess Gately
President, Professional Development Standing Committee

After starting her professional life in the environmental sector, Jess returned to her passion in literature, graduating from Curtin University with a Master of Arts in Professional Writing and Publishing. Her thesis explored the tools and considerations editors use when approaching fantasy and science fiction manuscripts that use fictional languages. She is currently the Publishing Coordinator at Night Parrot Press and is a founding member and the Marketing Manager of Underground Writers. She has worked closely with organisations such as Writing WA and Fremantle Press, hosted workshops and appeared as a guest speaker at the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre, presented guest lectures to students at Edith Cowan University, and 2020 will be her second year as a judge for the Aurealis Awards.

Joining the EdWA committee has been a massive learning curve for Jess but she has been blown away by the passion and enthusiasm she has witnessed so far and is excited to be representing her peers.

Apart from her work as an editor, she is also a freelance photographer and writer. She spends a lot of time working with WA authors, helping them develop their social media and organising their headshots. In the limited spare time she has, Jess loves to travel, potter around in her garden, drink cocktails, and, of course, read excessively. When she can find an extra hour in her week, she’d like to take up music and languages again. 

Lerae Rowney
Budget Officer, Communication Standing Committee

Lerae graduated from UWA having studied Law, English Literature (majoring in Shakespearean drama) and Ancient Greek History. She took office administration positions and (luckily) fell into writing and editing, and so discovered her metier.

‘Back then, in the Dark Ages, tertiary courses for editing, creative writing, journalism etc, did not exist. The latter was offered by Perth’s two major newspapers as a cadet program, usually entered directly from school,’ Lerae said.

She did try out at both The West Australian and The Daily News, and was accepted as a cadet, but by then she knew she wanted to wield the red pencil, not be subject to it.

Lerae has been a freelance editor and proofreader for 14 years, and prior to that was the managing editor at a publishing company in Perth.

She said joining EdWA is the best thing she has done professionally: ‘I get to meet and chat with other editors and people in related roles, and some who want to become an editor. This interaction is, I believe, mutually beneficial. As other freelancers and writers know, working largely alone and from home has its advantages but it also can be isolating and lonely. Going to meetings and social functions, having access to other IPEd branch events via Zoom, attending committee meetings and having a say in the running of our organisation is so rewarding.’

Dr Catherine Macdonald AE
Director for WA, Accreditation Board delegate

Dr Catherine Macdonald is an Accredited Editor and professional member of IPEd and also of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading in the UK. Her main areas of editing are social impact assessment reports, doctoral dissertations, academic books and self-published memoirs. She is based in Albany, WA, and has been on the Editors WA committee since 2018, initially as Bookworm editor, then as the delegate to the Accreditation Board and most recently has also become the WA Director on the IPEd Board.

Catherine completed her doctorate on social change among woman-headed households in Tanzania in 1996, demonstrating her longstanding sensitivity to the importance of gender in human development. She is a recognised expert on socially responsible mining practices and has written publications on that theme. This experience has been helpful in enabling her to undertake copyediting work on academic papers and doctoral dissertations.

For more than 30 years, she has been a consultant in the community development field, often editing/rewriting social impact assessment and community development reports as the only native English speaker in a local research team. This has included large-scale projects in Australia, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Kosovo, Mali, Mongolia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Senegal and Tanzania. In addition to English, she speaks Swahili, French, Malay (Indonesian), Dutch and Sinhala. Catherine also holds a Certificate IV in small group training.

Michèle Drouart, PhD, AE

Michèle is best known for her memoir, Into the Wadi (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2000), which won the WA Premier’s Award for that year. She has successfully managed two businesses: conducting creative writing courses (beginner to advanced) and an editing and assessment service. Since May 2019 she has focused on the editing of fiction and biography. She has taught French and English literature in universities in Australia, France, the USA and Jordan.

A member since 1992 and on the committee since 2017, Michèle has been in charge of several events: ‘Postcards from Brisbane’ (on the Brisbane conference); East Fremantle café society; the accreditation exam seminar by Meryl Potter (assisting Anna Maynard); ‘Genres of Editing’; ‘Finessing the Style Sheet’ (with Cheryl Bettridge); ‘What fiction writers and editors can learn from genre fiction’ — the full-day seminar (run in collaboration with FAWWA) by Melbournian Kate Cuthbert; Millpoint Rd café society at the Melbourne conference (assisted by Chloe Stam); ‘Negative Life Trajectory: a battle for plain language’ — presentation by Clare Chamberlain; ‘Caring for ourselves as editors’ by Josephine Taylor at the EdWA 2019 ABM; ‘Concerns of the Editor’ with presenters Jess Gately and Armelle Davies; and EdWA’s table with Fremantle Press at the ‘Literature and Ideas’ portion of the Perth Festival. Michèle has stepped down from her role as Vice-President, but agreed to remain on the committee a while longer.

Cheryl Bettridge AE

I still live in Martin on 10 acres of bush with Rob.

I still love my dogs (Rhubarb and Yogi are 4½ and 3½ years old respectively) — Turbo and Womble would have been my babies when I was President) and their personalities.

I still love puzzles, reading (I’ve discovered Elizabeth George since we last chatted), jigsaws, cooking, entertaining, eating out and wine.

I still work with teenagers in a beautiful and unique Big Picture school and they frustrate and inspire me every day.

So, not much has changed … except …

I got a new car — a whole year ago now — and I’ve learnt that small SUVs are not bad (VW Tiguan).

I built a raised bed vegetable garden (well, Rob did) and learnt to grow and use my own produce.

I started learning Italian and the piano (slow progress).

I’ve been learning about superfoods, essential oils, mindfulness, decluttering, being present … and I’m still stressed. Perhaps I should start applying what I’ve learnt?

But one thing has remained the same throughout — my commitment to our beloved EditorsWA and our continued development on both a professional and personal level.

Jan Knight, HLM

Jan grew up in California and came to Western Australia when she was 20. She has two sons and four grandchildren.

Jan completed a BA (English Literature) in 1964 and a Master of Education in 1982 at UWA.

She has had an extensive involvement in community organisations, including Playgrounds on Demand, Volunteer Task Force, Rottnest Voluntary Guides Association and Lake Mealup Preservation Society. In the early 1990s she was the Chair of the Board of the Volunteer Centre of WA.

She was also the inaugural Coordinator of Volunteers at Scitech Discovery Centre.

After three years as full-time editor with Agriculture Western Australia, in June 1997 Jan decided to offer freelance editing and proofreading services under the business name Flying Edits. She particularly enjoys turning technical information into clear and interesting material for the general reader. Her editing work covers a wide range of publications — non-fiction books, technical reports, extension information, policy statements, newsletters, annual reports, procedures manuals, conference presentations, journal articles and community awareness leaflets. She has edited non-fiction books for self-published authors on diverse topics from clinical psychology and self-help to overseas travel and autobiography, as well as several books for government agency clients. In June 2018 Flying Edits celebrated 21 years of editing, and a proud record of satisfied clients.

Jan loves being in the bush, looking at birds and wildflowers. At home she makes crocheted rag rugs, a skill she learned from her grandmother. In 1999 she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease which has progressed slowly and is still fairly well controlled.

Catherine Schwerin

Catherine is returning to the committee having previously served on the Society of Editors WA committee from March 2015 through the society’s transition to its current incarnation as Editors WA, a branch of IPEd. During that time, she was also the WA Coordinator for the National Mentoring Program for editors before passing the baton to Michèle Drouart in 2017. Since her return to Australia in 2013–14 after living in Germany for almost 24 years, she has worked full-time as a freelance editor and translator. Prior to this she was putting her linguistics and teaching qualifications to good use as a lecturer at the University of Hamburg’s Institute for English and American Studies, while also working part-time as an editor and translator.

Although mostly engaged with academic publications, particularly in her role as Associate Editor for the journals Chinese Semiotic Studies and Language and Cognitive Linguistics, Catherine also covers a wide range of other communications, including educational materials, website content, and advertising and corporate copy. She has collaborated on projects for a variety of clients including German government bodies, academic journal publishers, universities, translation and language services, and reputable international brands. For Catherine, exploring, understanding and teaching language is part of who she is. For a little contrast and to wind down from work, she enjoys singing, dancing and playing the guitar, and, for good measure, has now taken up the cajon. 

Jill Lindsay

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Jill always knew her passion for languages would propel her along her career path. Little did she know what a chequered path that would turn out to be. After qualifying with a Master of Arts in Translation, Jill began her career as a junior lecturer in the translation department at Wits University, South Africa. A few years on, freelancing gave her the flexibility she needed once children became part of her life, and the next 17 years were spent translating, editing, lecturing, and marking translation-accreditation examination papers for the South African Translators Institute, and honours and master’s research reports for Wits.

In 2016 she, her husband and three sons took a huge leap of faith and emigrated to Perth, where they are now all happy and settled. Working first in a range of administrative positions, in 2019 Jill decided it was high time she returned to her language work and joined IPEd as a professional member. At the beginning of 2020, she returned to freelancing just as COVID-19 gripped the world. Undeterred, Jill began part-time work in aged care while building up her freelance editing business. Although most of the editing work she has done in Australia so far has been editing résumés and cover letters for job seekers, she is particularly interested in corporate and medical editing. She is excited to be part of the EdWA branch committee.

Angela Rogerson AE

Angela, like many editors, fell into editing as part of a job (although she distinctly remembers having a coveted knack for editing friends’ university assignments in the early 1990s) and, for the past 12 years, she has been a full-time in-house editor for a WA government department, primarily in the natural resource management field. Her principal genre is scientific technical editing of a broad range of information products, ranging from large technical reports to fact sheets, web content and posters. She coaches numerous colleagues in editing and writing, with a focus on using plain English and clearly communicating science and resource management to a variety of audiences.

Angela has been a professional member of WA’s editing society since 2013 and she attended the 6th IPEd editors conference in Fremantle, her initial eye-opener to a vast industry she knew nothing about. In 2014, Angela first attained IPEd accreditation, and renewed it in 2019. Over the years, she has attended professional development events run by EdWA and values being able to attend such events to meet and connect with other editors. (She is the only qualified editor at her workplace.) However, having the opportunity to attend PD events and branch meetings via an online media (e.g. Zoom), has significantly broadened her ability to participate because she lives in a regional area. She joined the EdWA committee and has just joined IPEd’s Style Manual Steering Group too.

Angela lives with her husband, youngest daughter (her two older stepchildren have left the nest), dog, guinea pigs, chickens, ospreys, bandicoots and ducks in Albany on WA’s south coast.

Kiara Cramer

Kiara Cramer is the newest member of the IPEd WA branch. She studies English Literature, Classics and Ancient History at the University of Western Australia while working as a freelance editor. Kiara’s passion and knowledge lie in substantive editing for fiction manuscripts (focusing on fantasy/sci-fi, horror and historical fiction). She has an eye for picking out plot holes and guiding writers through the brainstorming process.

In her free time Kiara works on her own manuscript, procrastinates about her next craft project while simultaneously planning a completely different one and obsessively reorganises her book collection to meet different criteria.

Kiara has lived in both WA and Tasmania and spent a year abroad in Japan as an exchange student. While in Japan she studied the traditional tea ceremony, Kendo, and discovered a love for eastern philosophy. Kiara has an appreciation for natural beauty, the present moment and self-motivation.