Dear Editor…
“Dear Editor–can you be a freelance editor writer all in one?”
I won’t try to fool you–this site is far too new to have people writing Dear Editor questions to it already. But this is one I get a lot from newcomers who want to give themselves as much of a chance as possible to get freelance jobs, so I am using it to kick off this featured portion of the site.
Can you be an editor writer? A writer/editor? An editor slash writer?
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is, you have to understand the craft of writing in order to be an effective editor. Are you still struggling with possesive apostrophes and where to use a semi-colon? If so, you might not be ready to be an editor writer or writer/editor just yet.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t try. You can improve your craft greatly by editing the work of other writers–look at the weaknesses of others and you’ll soon recognize your own shortcomings. Just don’t try to be an editor for money until you feel you have a commnad of English grammar and sentence construction. You should also buy a copy of the McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Usage and Grammar. It’s a great tool to help you get intimate with English so you can become that double-threat editor writer.
