Annual Branch Meeting (ABM) 2021

by Paul Anderson

The EdNSW ABM was on 3 August 2021. More than 20 participants attended the online meeting, with no apologies.

Russell Noakes, Vice-President, opened the meeting and welcomed all participants.

Vice-President’s report

by Russell Noakes

• 2020–21 has been a challenging year, weathering the storm of COVID-19. Russell reassured members that the branch is strong and viable, and that the committee has a clear focus on our central aim — supporting you, our members — and playing our part in furthering IPEd’s mission to advance professional editing.
• Robert Rowe is stepping down as President. Russell thanked Robert for all his work over the past year.
• Russell named the outgoing committee members, and Susie Pilkington, Administration and Events Manager. He thanked all for their personal and shared commitment to the effective operation of the branch.
• EdNSW had a successful year. We are all learning new skills and better ways to support ourselves. Adaptability has been a watchword.

Presentations report

by Caroline Hunter

• We decided last year to hold our member meetings online. Caroline recapped the diverse array held: seven speaker presentations and our first trivia night.
• We plan to host six speaker presentation meetings a year, interspersed with regular dinners (if permitted) and informal member meetings.

Workshops report

by Sara Kitaoji AE

• We plunged into the world of Zoom last year for online professional development (PD). Sara explained the benefits of collaboration across branches. Online workshops tend to book out quickly and each branch has limited resources for hosting them. Popular workshops can now be run for multiple series and across different time zones.
• Sara recapped the four workshops held, taught by respected trainers and editors. She is delighted that we have created more accessible and equitable PD opportunities to serve the diverse needs of members, wherever located.

News report

by Elisabeth Thomas

• This has been EdNSW’s first full year of being a part of IPEd’s Gatherings newsletter. We now have a larger readership and far more access to our colleagues, interstate and overseas.
• Elisabeth thanked everyone who contributed and consistently submitted content to Gatherings by deadline. We are working up to two months in advance, with sometimes very short turnaround times. Special thanks to Paul Anderson and Robin Appleton HLM.

Member liaison report

by Kaaren Sutcliffe AE

• Despite this year’s challenges, we received a pleasing steady stream of applications for branch membership each month.
• The overall number of active financial members was 374 at the end of June 2021, from all reaches of the state.

Mentoring report

by Elizabeth Beach AE

• It has been a bit disrupted, but we have recently started five new mentorships. (Three of our six active mentors were in attendance.)
• One priority for the coming year is to increase the number of mentors from NSWs.

Accreditation report

by Linda Nix AE

• Linda summarised two main activities: accreditation renewals and results from the last accreditation exam (5 December 2020). She thanked the four volunteers from EdNSW who invigilated the exam.
• The 26 accredited editors (AEs) from the branch have applied to renew their accreditation in the current round. Linda named the seven editors from NSW who were successful in the 2020 exam. This brings EdNSW’s total to 76 AEs.

Russell Noakes, Budget Officer, presented the branch budget. Last year we budgeted for a deficit across all activities of $6200, but we turned the budget around and actually achieved a surplus of $1820. We contained costs and got some excellent revenue from things like the sale of access to recordings. Moving our workshops online meant more people could attend. We have budgeted for a small surplus this year.

Julie Ganner AE, Secretary, called for any nominations from the floor and from financial voting members for vacant committee positions. There were none.

Susie Pilkington, as Returning Officer, announced the results of the committee elections.

Your new committee for 2021–22 comprises the following professional members: Elizabeth Beach AE, Julie Ganner AE, Caroline Hunter, Kai Jensen AE, Sara Kitaoji AE, Russell Noakes, Kaaren Sutcliffe AE and Elisabeth Thomas.

Russell formally invited Fi Peel and Paul Anderson, two associate members who expressed interest, to also join the new committee for 2021–22. Both accepted.

Several questions were fielded from members, after which the ABM was closed.

We remain keen to have more people work with us on the committee so please get in touch at any time via ednsw.secretary@iped-editors.org. 

From the committee

by Paul Anderson and Russell Noakes

The first task of your new EdNSW committee was on 10 August for its monthly meeting via Zoom, with no apologies.

Minutes of the July committee meeting, and last month’s ABM, were accepted.

The main item of business was to formalise the new committee, who elected the Branch Executive and assigned the following roles to the committee members:

• Secretary — Julie Ganner AE
• Budget Officer — Russell Noakes
• Member Liaison Officer — Kaaren Sutcliffe AE
• Presentations Coordinator — Kai Jensen AE
• Workshops Coordinator — Sara Kitaoji AE
• Meetings Coordinator — Fi Peel
• Zoom Support Assistants — Caroline Hunter and Sara Kitaoji AE
• News Editor — Elisabeth Thomas
• News Writer — Paul Anderson
• Mentoring Coordinator — Elizabeth Beach AE

We warmly welcome Kai and Fi as new members of the committee.

No nominations were received for the role of branch President, and the role will remain open for the time being. Russell agreed to continue to chair committee meetings until a president is elected. No nominations were received for the roles of Vice-President, Social Events Coordinator, and additional Zoom Support Assistants, and those roles also remain vacant for the time being.

The committee resolved to expand the EdNSW executive to seven committee members so we have the capacity to cover the operations of the branch.

A budget commentary was received for August with preliminary estimates. The financial position of the branch remains sound and the branch is operating within the budget guidelines.

Our ABM was held on 3 August, via Zoom. Thank you to all who participated and to those who could stay for the informal members’ forum afterwards.

There was no speaker presentation in August. Our next is on 7 September with Mike Corrigan; the topic is Accessible publishing and the role editors can play (AKA: Which book to read now? What choice do I have?).

We will run a second series of our Copyediting fiction workshop with Nicola O’Shea this month, and an Editing memoir workshop with Pamela Hewitt in October.

Two new mentorship pairings were established in July.

Welcome to new members

by Kaaren Sutcliffe AE

EdNSW is pleased to welcome the following new members:

Associate members: Reilly Kerr; Melanie Ball; Belinda Collins

Student member: Emily Halloran

Events

Member meetings

Member meetings will continue to be held via Zoom.

Members are urged to check their email for the latest information on any event.

Bookings via the IPEd Events webpage.

Which book to read now? What choice do I have?

Date: Tuesday 7 September 2021, 7pm AEST
Location: online via Zoom
Details: Most people can choose from the tens of millions of books available online or at a bookstore. People with a print disability have very limited choice. To read the latest national bestseller that everyone is raving about, they might have to wait for months to read it in a format of their choice — audio, ePub 3, large print or braille. We will discuss the process of converting books to accessible formats, ways of accessing the printed word and the role editors can play in improving access to books.
Presenters: Mike Corrigan is a member of the NextSense Connected Services team. He provides training and support to clients and staff, conducts research into effective ways to use the technology necessary for people with vision impairment to achieve their goals, and presents in degree and professional development programs relating to Access Technology. Mike has been blind since birth and uses technology to help with daily living activities, at work and in his postgraduate studies. 

Sonali Marathe manages the Accessibility and Inclusion team at NextSense, which is responsible for producing accessible formats for people with a print disability. Sonali is also the President of the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities, a member-led organisation that facilitates and influences the production and use of quality alternative formats. Sonali is passionate about equal access to information and has vast experience in alternative format production.

Bookings: close Friday 3 September and a link to join the Zoom meeting will be emailed to all registrants on Saturday 4 September. 

Book here.

Editor without borders, 2010–20

Date: Tuesday 5 October 2021, 7pm AEST
Location: online via Zoom
Details: When Robyn Flemming left Australia in 2010, it wasn’t the first time she had shed an old skin for a new one. Back in 1985, she returned from a week-long business trip to Hong Kong for her Sydney employer with a vision of a new life as a freelance editor. She gave four months’ notice, then returned to Asia. During the seven years she lived in Hong Kong, she set up the Women in Publishing Society, still active more than 30 years later.

As she explains in her forthcoming book, Skinful: A memoir of addiction, she returned to live in Australia in late 1993. Sixteen years later, she packed her laptop, running shoes and hiking boots, and set off to live in the world as a self-employed digital nomad, an international bag lady, an editor without borders. 

For the next 10 years, she travelled extensively, continuing to work as a freelancer. In March 2020, when COVID-19 closed many countries’ borders, she relocated back to Australia from her European base in Budapest, Hungary. 

Robyn’s memoir will be released in January 2022 by Booktopia Publishing.

Presenter: Robyn Flemming is an Australian freelance editor with clients in Australia, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. She currently lives in Albury, NSW, but still has keys to the apartment that she calls home in New York.

Bookings: close Friday 1 October and a link to join the Zoom meeting will be emailed to all registrants on Saturday 2 October. Bookings will be via the IPEd Events page.

Booking link to come.

Editor without borders, 2010–20

Date: Tuesday 5 October 2021, 7pm AEST
Location: online via Zoom
Presenter: Robyn Flemming, freelance editor, proofreader, street photographer and author
Details: will be announced closer to the date

Workshops

Copyediting fiction (repeat series)

Dates: Session 1: Thursday 23 September 1:30pm to 4:30pm and Session 2: Thursday 30 September 1:30pm to 4pm
Location: online via Zoom
Cost: IPEd members $209 (student members $137.50); non-members $275 (prices include GST)
Details: Even experienced editors can feel apprehensive about applying their skills to a fiction manuscript. How much editing is too much when it comes to a novel or a short story? How do you preserve the author’s voice while still ensuring the text suits its readership and is error-free? In this workshop we will look at some of the key elements in copyediting fiction such as voice, dialogue and a sensitive approach.

Presenter: Nicola O’Shea started editing fiction in-house at HarperCollins Publishers Australia in the late 1990s. In her freelance career, she edits for a range of publishers as well as working directly with authors to help them prepare their manuscripts for submission to agents or publishers, or to self-publish. She has taught editing at University of Technology Sydney and the University of Sydney, run several workshops on fiction editing for EdNSW, and currently teaches an online fiction structural editing course.

Note: This 5.5-hour workshop is a repeat of our July workshop. Numbers are again limited to 15, but we will take a waiting list if the event sells out.

Book here.

Their life in your hands: Editing memoir

Dates: Session 1: Saturday 16 October 10am to 1pm and Session 2: Saturday 23 October 10am to 1pm
Location: online via Zoom
Cost: IPEd members $210 (student members $150); non-members $300 (prices include GST)
Details: What makes for a successful memoir? Who owns a life story? The workshop explores the boundaries between memoir, autobiography, autofiction and biography. We’ll examine new approaches and recent controversies; relationships with clients; legal questions; overcoming difficulties in manuscripts; additional services that can be offered. 

This workshop is for people interested in expanding into memoir editing, and memoir editors who wish to consolidate their skills. For those who attended Pamela’s workshop at the recent IPEd Conference, it features new content and hands-on activities.

Presenter: Pamela Hewitt AE has worked in editing and publishing for more than 25 years. After an in-house career in educational and academic editing, she established a freelance editorial practice specialising in memoir, fiction and narrative non-fiction. Many memoirs she has edited have won literary awards. A qualified teacher, Pamela has presented editing and writing workshops around Australia and internationally.

Note: Numbers are limited to 20, but we will take a waiting list if the event sells out.

Book here.