I am a word nerd. I love anything to do with grammar, vocabulary, and reading, reading, reading! I am the person my friends and family come to for all their editing needs. Over the years, I became the go-to editor at my various workplaces. I am an artist who has worked as a technical editor, paralegal, lab technician, museum technician, and bartender (no editing experience there, but a whole lot of life experience!).
I have a Professional Editing Certificate from the University of Chicago, Graham School. I received my BFA from the University of Iowa, and I have an AA in Paralegal Studies.
I have experience editing journal articles for ASCE, technical reports for the US Army Corps of Engineers, engineering manuscripts, academic journal articles, legal briefs and motions, continuing education materials, and personal essays. I research, edit, and proofread pop-up exhibits for a cultural heritage museum. As a paralegal, I edited many types of legal documentation, including discovery documents and state supreme court briefs, and I authored a paralegal training handbook. I proofread The ‘Sip Magazine, a quarterly regional culture magazine.
I am a voracious reader of a wide variety of genres, both fiction and nonfiction. I peruse a number of publications on a daily basis, and always have at least one novel in my reading rotation.
The ideal editor is a perfectionist at a minute level, exacting in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and syntax; but must also see the big picture, the forest despite the trees. An effective editor works with a writer to produce the highest quality manuscript for their intended audience. Let me be that person for you.
Let me take your writing to the next level!
Mary Kent Walshire
Member of the Editorial Freelancers Association