Nuts and Bolts of Manuscript Editing: A Conversation with Two Editors

Thu, 03/08/2012 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Admission: Members Only - Free
Contact: Taryn Edwards - tedwards@milibrary.org / (415) 393 - 0103
Location: 4th Floor Meeting Room


Meet fellow MI members and freelance editors David Carr and Jay Schaefer in this intimate seminar on the services editors can offer to writers in all stages of the writing process.

Learn what an editor does beyond correcting grammar, when is the right time to call in an editor, and how an editor can help you get going on your manuscript by understanding the differences between writing fiction and nonfiction, effectively using tools such as outlining and mind-mapping, finding the right voice, defining your audience, and overcoming the challenges of the first chapter.

Reservations required. Members only.


David Colin Carr has been editing fiction and non-fiction since 1988 with writers as far flung as China and Thailand, as well as with doctoral students in the Bay Area and New York. A relatively new member to MI, he works collaboratively with clients to activate their passion and vision – with clarity, coherence, and in their distinctive voice. David is dedicated to projects that value, expand, and connect our human hearts – offering his own heart, counseling experience, and creativity to bring forth the brilliance of both the writing and the collaborative relationship. He is associate editor with Volcano Press.

Jay Schaefer, a member of MI since 1996, is an independent editor and book publishing consultant based in San Francisco. He was the editorial director at Chronicle Books, where he’d worked for more than 20 years, and later was the editor at large for Workman Publishing and Algonquin Books. Jay has edited a wide variety of books by both well-known and previously unpublished writers including the memoir Under the Tuscan Sun and fiction by Craig Ferguson, Robert Olen Butler, John Nichols, and Senator Barbara Boxer. He has also edited mysteries and humor titles, including The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series.