Polishing the Rough Edges: A Copyeditor's Perspective

Abstract

It is the rare occasion for the copyeditor to be asked to pen an editorial for a publication, much less a peer-reviewed journal. However, as is the ethos of Voices, many positions and ideas are respected and nurtured–even the copyeditor’s. Editing is a job I rather fell into in many ways. Being one of the few native English speakers in my doctoral program at Aalborg University in Denmark, I was looking for a way to give back to the community of scholars who supported me through my studies. Truthfully, I think I felt guilty writing my dissertation in my native tongue when my cohort had to struggle through the challenges of writing in the dominant scientific language of English. Editing their work for English language corrections was one way I could do that. Somehow in that editing space I began as an article reviewer for Voices, then moved to the editorial board, and now I’m happily in my role as copyeditor. Since coming into this position with the Voices team, I have had the distinct position of reading every article accepted for publication with a fine-toothed comb. Some might assume that copyediting would be a tedious, boring aspect of publishing, but my experience has been more akin to polishing up any rough edges that exist with language or fixing any APA style issues. Clearly there is quite a bit of nitpicking involved, however, the contributors to Voices present such thoughtful, meaningful, work that most of the time I am grateful to read each and every article. Some of them may not have been the type of article that I would have purposefully sought out, but oftentimes, those are the ones that have left the greatest impression on me. On many occasions, in the middle of copyediting, I become so engrossed in what the authors are addressing that I have to start over completely. I have to remind my brain to keep an eye out for comma splices, obscure APA style mandates, and my personal favorite, the Oxford comma. The articles in this edition are no different. What strikes me as a similarity in these articles is the relationships that are discussed. The authors encourage a dialogic approach whether it is between therapist and client (e.g., Fairchild & Mraz; Silverman; Coombes) or between therapist and other professionals (Gross; Pearson). These reflexive exchanges deeply honor the sacred work that happens with the co-creation of music together. To begin, Coombes presents her work with asylum seeking families in Wales. She positions her article in respect of the impact that work has had on her. She states, “For myself, 3 years later, I still find it hard to shake the feelings of disorientation and of being off-balance that this work evoked. What was striking at the time, and remains so, is that some level of a commonality of experience between the group and myself emerged. Being lost, not knowing where to go; these moments were powerful and have now woven themselves into my world-view and inform my work with this client group.”