It’s official: I’m hanging out my shingle as an editor and writing coach. I focus on academics, especially those facing writer’s block or trying to reach a broader audience. (Or both.) No matter where you are in the writing process—whether you’ve got a rough manuscript or just some ideas floating around in your head—I can make your life easier.
I offer three types of service, which you can combine if you’d like. As a writing coach, I’ll help you brainstorm and get you going when you get bogged down—and teach you techniques that will enable you to unblock yourself in the future. As a developmental editor, I’ll help you to structure (or restructure) your work and find the throughlines to your narrative. As a line editor, I’ll burnish your prose without stepping on your style.
My background, if you don’t already know:
I’ve been a writer and editor for more than three decades. I’ve written for The New York Times, the Washington Post, Time magazine, New York magazine, Vice, Salon, and Lingua Franca. I was books and culture editor for several years at In These Times magazine and a staff writer at Money magazine for nearly a decade. And, of course, I’ve been blogging about the misogynistic backlash for thirteen years here at We Hunted the Mammoth, which got me profiled in The New York Times.
As a longtime book reviewer, often of academic books, I know how to make complex ideas accessible to a broad audience—and I can help you do the same. And as an escaped grad student (ABD at Northwestern in history), I understand how academia works.
If you’re interested, contact me at [email protected] to arrange a free 20-minute phone or Zoom call to discuss what I can do for you. My rates are affordable and consistent with the guidelines of the Editorial Freelancers Association.
I’m offering a discount to readers of We Hunted the Mammoth; just mention this in your note to me.
For more details (though I’ve covered the basics here), see my website at David-Futrelle.com.
Happy writing!
Go David!
My resume isn’t as great as yours, but I have done “translations” from academic CS and medical jargon to bureaucratese, and both non-fiction and fiction editing, plus I am a great beta reader/proofreader/copyeditor.
I’ve been thinking of hanging out my shingle next year. So keep us posted on how it goes.
Best of luck with this, David.
This is going to be the summer of climate change.
I was going to post a congrats message for you, David, but I’m too busy trying to contain my nuclear-hot rage at the disclosure of Steven Crowder’s abuse against his wife.
@Surplus to Requirements
This is going to be the summer of climate change.
Going to be? Going to be? California on fire, desert floods, and Florida as the next Atlantis are the new fucking normal.
I wouldn’t presume to speak for Surplus, of course, but I kind of read the comment as ‘this will be the summer it becomes impossible for all but the most terminally divorced from reality to deny that climate change is already right here right now‘. (extrapolating a bit :-s)
@David, wishing you all the best with this line of work!
@FMO: Those things you mention are only the preview reel. Buckle up.
@ David (and anyone else interested)
The EU Council of Ministers has at last passed its Artificial Intelligence Act. I haven’t seen the final version yet. They’ve just announced it. I gather though that it’s pretty similar to the draft act put forward in Dec 21 but with some provisions added about data scraping and IP.
But anyway, might be of use for your new blog.
https://venturebeat.com/ai/eu-lawmakers-pass-draft-of-ai-act-includes-last-minute-change-on-generative-ai-models/
ETA: This isn’t the end of it. Without getting into the complexities of EU law, it now goes to the MEPs so they can make comments and suggestions; although the final say is with the Council.
(Comment posted that belonged on the Crowder thread; repositioned.)