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Time for another tech editor interview! This week I interviewed Whitney Steen of https://wlsmakesstuff.com/. Whitney is both a technical editor and an experienced graphic designer. We had a long chat about her journey into a full time business as a technical editor. Click below to watch the interview or scroll down to read an excerpt from the blog transcript.
What made you decide to become a technical editor if you were already working in a space that was kind of editorial and fulfilling?
About three, four years ago, right before the pandemic, the grant administration side of my job had gotten so massive for my organization that I had to hand off most of my editorial newsletter work to our communications team and really focus more full time on grant administration. And at the time, I was fine with it, but as time went on, I realized I that popping into the communications team meeting to help with some story ideas and occasionally proofreading an issue was not really enough of that work to keep me entertained. And just not having that creative part of my work anymore was starting to really wear on me.
I started to get a little bit tired. And I was also just starting to look for a new challenge. When you've been with one organization for eleven years, there's not a whole lot that pops up that can surprise you anymore. And it's the same old, even when it's a new person with a new problem. So the pandemic hit, and of course I was sitting at home with a lot of time on my hands.
It was really bringing home to me that it was time to think about what my next step was. And I had found out in 2017 or 2018 what a tech editor was from a designer I watched on YouTube at the time. She had described what her tech editor did for her, and what that process of getting a pattern back was like. And I was like, wait, that's a job you can do? You can get paid for editing knitting patterns. I think I need to figure this out.
Maybe I should just look around and see how one becomes a tech editor. So I found The Tech Editor Hub, and I took Joeli’s course in very early 2022 and started looking around for jobs. And things really grew very quickly. Last year, I realized I was at a point where I needed to decide if it was just going to stay a side gig—that I only did a limited amount of jobs a month, or if I wanted to really push to grow it into a full time effort itself. And so I decided that I was ready to go. And in June, I left my full time job, and now I'm doing this full time.
Tell us, what is the best piece of wisdom you have heard or read lately?
I watch a lot of makers on YouTube of just about everything, not just knitters or crocheters, but I also watch a lot of people who make robots, and people who build crazy props for cosplay. One of the women I'm currently watching right now, she is creating a bookmobile. And so I was watching her video about getting her bookmobile all constructed, and she had to go back and redo something because when she painted the logo on, it had been a very pollen-y day in the area where she lived, and the pollen was making the logo not stick to the truck.
And she said this thing, and it really struck with me because it kind of hit where I'm currently at right now: When you have to go back and redo something that you already finished, it can feel like you're going backwards. But if you're learning something new, that's just part of the process. And I thought that was so well articulated, and it hit so well because when I watched that video, I happened to have been working on a crochet chart that I had to kind of go back and redo because I realized halfway into it, I was like, oh, this will be much better structured if I set it up this way. And I was a little frustrated with that.
It also really reminded me that I'm still in the early stages here, so some of this is new to me. Some of this is just a new way of thinking about something that I've been doing for a long time. It's a good reminder if you're learning something new. And I think it's a good reminder for designers, too, because, you know, I've worked with a lot of people who were doing their first sweater pattern after designing other things, they would get frustrated that I had so many comments about how their sleeves were put together, and it's like, yes, but this is your first sweater, and it's going to take some time to make sure we have it correct.
Do you have any advice for editors who are just starting out? If you could travel back in time, what wisdom would you whisper to yourself?
I think one of the things I would say, I wish that I had started doing formal office hours earlier.
I had been kind of messing around and looking for clients, probably for six or eight months. And I had this long list of things I needed to do to get my business up and running, website set up, and filing for my DBA with the state and various other things. There was this endless list of things to do, and I would work on them sometimes on the weekends, but I didn't have any set time. It would just be as I had time outside of my full time job. And so at one point, I don't even remember, I feel like I got this idea off somebody at The Tech Editor Hub, and I'm not sure who, said something about having regular office hours.
Maybe that would help, because if I had a set schedule for when I'm going to work on this, then it wouldn't be like, oh, I did 8 hours this week, but then I didn't do any the next week, and things would get done faster. So I started doing 2 hours, two evenings a week. I made sure my husband was aware of what my schedule was, and we made sure that we worked our dinner time around the evenings I had set. And so it didn't matter whether I had a client or not. If I didn't have a client, I came up and did business admin stuff, did content for the blog or set other things up. And if I had a client. I would work on the work for the client.
Sometimes if I had a client, I had to do more than 4 hours a week, but it at least got me kind of started. And it changed the way I thought about my work because it stopped being just this thing I am doing for fun on the side and became my actual business and I'm making time for this. And it just changed even the way my husband and I talked about it, where he would be like, oh, are you working this evening? And I started taking it much more seriously.
I wish I had even started doing that even earlier in the process because it just really helped me start thinking of this as a job that I am doing seriously and not just like this fun little hobby I'm doing on the side, because I got a lot done. And then I even started thinking a little bit ahead of time. What's my goal for today? What do I want to get done before I finish? And it just helps with the mindset of the planning and how things need to progress.
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Got to put aside the tech and pick up my knitting,
Sarah
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I am a knitting technical editor, author, and sweater nerd. I like coffee, puzzles, many books (all at once), and a good sniff of yarn fumes. This Hub is all about helping *you* find success as a technical editor from any direction that works.
When you are ready:
- Learn to tech edit knitting patterns or crochet patterns. Get training and real pattern practice before you take on clients.
- Schedule a strategy session with me. Go deep and get unstuck.
- Join the editor-only community for collaboration, 24-7 support and more skills, including building that business.
- Or just book a virtual cuppa with me. How can I help you?
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