The definition of a mentor as a “trusted counselor or guide” speaks to the core of what our editing community can offer. Since October 2021, I have been fortunate to mentor 10 editors through the Northwest Editors Guild’s Mentoring Program, and others outside of the Guild. Imagine the collective impact we could have on our community if more of us stepped into a mentoring role. We are supporting our peers by fostering growth while simultaneously strengthening our profession—and, perhaps surprisingly, gaining new perspectives ourselves as well. Curious about becoming a mentor? Let’s explore how you can offer invaluable guidance to your fellow editors.

Have you heard the big news? Jane Friedman will be the keynote speaker at the 2025 Red Pencil conference on November 8th in Seattle and online! Save the date for a day of learning and fun.

As artificial intelligence reshapes the publishing landscape, editors face unprecedented questions about their role, their relationships with writers, and the future of literary creation itself. In this keynote address, publishing industry veteran Jane Friedman examines how AI is already transforming the editorial process—from manuscript evaluation to developmental guidance to line editing—while placing these changes within broader industry shifts.

Learn more on our Red Pencil 2025 page, and keep an eye out for registration opening this summer!

The Northwest Editors Guild's 9th biennial Red Pencil Conference will take place on Saturday, November 8, 2025! This year's theme is Framing Our Future: Perspectives on a Changing Industry. The 2025 Red Pencil conference will explore how editors can play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our industry during this time of rapid change. 

With an inspiring keynote and a full day of sessions led by experts in our field, we'll examine the myriad challenges and opportunities facing editors today. These include the dizzying growth of AI, rising censorship and intellectual property theft, and preserving the diversity and value that is vital to our industry.

Learn more and on our blog.

Red Pencil Conference 2025, Framing Our Future: Perspectives on a Changing Industry

November 8, 2025
Lynnwood Event Center and online

Join us for an engaging and interactive conference where you’ll hear insider perspectives on the editing industry. There will be sessions for new and advanced editors, multiple networking opportunities, a buffet lunch, and an inspiring keynote to bring the day together.

Tickets will go on sale in the summer of 2025.

The Northwest Editors Guild blog team had the fabulous opportunity to chat recently with Madeleine Vasaly, editor, proofreader, and author of The Proofreader’s Guide to Comic Book Style. We’re excited to share with you everything we learned from that discussion in our latest blog post.

Do your clients need help dragging their style guide into 2025? Member Beth Chapple shows us how to help clients implement style changes from the 18th edition of CMOS.

Did you miss our November Member Meeting, Indexing with Daniel Heila? Never fear, the video recording is now available! It will be accessible to the public for one month starting from today, and then available only to Guild members from then on.

We have a newsletter! If you are a member of the Guild, we hope you received the most recent issue of our monthly newsletter on the afternoon of the first of the month. If you did, great!

If not, don’t despair—it almost certainly got lost in a spam or promotions folder. To receive future issues straight to your inbox, please add info@edsguild.org to your email client’s safe list. Or, if you’d rather view it on our website, you can find this issue and all future issues in the member-only Newsletter Archive (under the news tab in our navigation bar).

Did you miss our July 8th meeting, Disability / Language / Grace: An Introduction? Never fear, the video and handout and resource list are now available! Everything will be accessible to the public for one month starting from today, and then available only to Guild members from then on.

Did you miss our May 13th meeting, AI for Editors with Erin Servais? Never fear, the video is now available! It will be accessible to the public for one month starting from today, and then available only to Guild members from then on.

Did you miss our March 18th meeting, The Mainstreaming of Antisemitism in America? Never fear, the video is now available! It will be accessible to the public for one month starting from today, and then available only to Guild members from then on.

Did you miss our November 20th meeting, Making Your Business Accessible with Mary-Colleen Jenkins? Never fear, the video, resource list, and PowerPoint slides are now available! It will be accessible to the public for one month starting from today, and then available only to Guild members from then on.

The Northwest Editors Guild community has been deeply saddened by the loss of one of the Guild’s two co-founders, Sherri Schultz.

Sherri and Phyllis Hatfield started what was then called the Northwest Independent Editors Guild in 1997 with just eleven members, and in 1999, as the Guild became a little more formal, Sherri built its first website. In addition to her extensive work in helping the Guild to grow into a registered nonprofit and setting us up to become today an organization with more than 400 members across the United States, Sherri was a passionate educator, organizer, and builder of community.

To learn more about Sherri and everything she did for the Guild and its members, check out our new memorial page.

The Guild is led by an all-volunteer board of directors, and we need you (yes, you!) to keep it running! We especially need a treasurer-in-training and VP of member services, but other positions are open, too. If you’re interested, join us at an informal chat or at our open board meeting in October (see calendar for dates and times), read our board service FAQ and expectations document, or email info@edsguild.org for more information.

Want to join our Chicago Manual of Style Online Group Subscription? Our group subscription to Chicago Manual of Style Online renews every year on the first of February, so now is the perfect time to subscribe!

Learn more about the group subscription here. (StetPet not included.)

The video and handout for our September 2022 member meeting, MS Word Heroics—Tech Cheats with Adrienne Montgomerie, is now available on our website. It will be available to the public for one month from today, after which it will be available to members only.

For more fascinating resources on editing and related topics, members can browse the Meeting Videos and Notes page, an archive of meeting videos and notes going back to 2008.

We’ve opened a Spreadshirt shop where you can purchase t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs, and other fun editing swag with our logo, or with the gorgeous t-shirt design created by member Kelsey Klockenteger in our member t-shirt design contest. All orders are 15% off for the first 14 days our shop is open (beginning today, September 14), so be sure to check it out!

The Guild encourages its members to host coffee or happy hours whenever they’d like. These get-togethers are a great way to strengthen professional and personal connections between members!

Find out more here.