The one where I interview Jenn
supreme editor, supremer friend
My three-year college roommate and current roommate again Jenn is not only one of my favorite people but also an exceptionally creative person so humble that you’d never know about all the cool shit she does until you start to pry. So that’s just what I did this evening as we sat on the couch after dinner.
Jenn and I graduated with our undergraduate degrees in English at the same time, and then she went on to receive her MA in Publishing & Writing at Emerson. For the past five years, she’s worked as managing editor at a global healthcare agency for oncology brands. She’s also been freelancing for Macmillan Publishers during this time, contributing to projects you’ve probably heard of—A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny, anyone??! Read on for a peek into what Jenn’s been up to as proverbial flies on the wall of our living room.
Emma: How did you get into freelancing for Macmillan?
Jenn: I think this is a crutch, I think you need to write about something important.
E: I don’t have anything important, I’ve been reregulating my life, I have not really been doing anything creative for the past two weeks.
J: You moved in here. You got your car all figured out, you got your wi-fi done, you started going to the gym.
E: This is not enough to write a newsletter about though. My last one was about moving in here and changing. So, what are you working on for them right now?
J: Some murder mystery, it’s not very mysterious though. I think it’s a sequel.
E: Do you find you can actually read and enjoy the projects you’re reviewing, or is it strictly work?
J: It depends. If I'm doing a copy edit, no, I can't really enjoy it at all. But if it's a proofread, usually I can kind of enjoy it.
E: So back to the beginning, how did you get started with them?
J: I got rejected from a job I applied for there, but to break the pain she asked if I was interested in freelancing for them. So I took a proofreading test, that was easy, and then they sent me stuff, and they’re still sending stuff today. At first it was just cold reads and proofreads because they’re a little bit easier, and then I started doing copy edits, which I enjoy doing, it just takes a lot of time. I’m coming up on five years with them in October.
E: What are some of your favorite/most satisfying projects you’ve gotten to work on?
J: Those are two very different things but probably my first copy edit, If A Poem Could Live and Breathe, [“a fact-based romantic speculative novel about Teddy Roosevelt’s first love Alice Lee…studded with real love letters”] was the first book I worked on that I saw in stores, and where I was mentioned in the acknowledgments. I bought it and saw that my edits were incorporated, that was satisfying.
And then I think my favorite book I worked on was The Collected Regrets of Clover [“about a death doula who, in caring for others at the end of their life, has forgotten how to live her own”]. That read like a YA novel although the protagonist is a little bit older. It’s a very interesting book with a great voice, and I related a lot to the main character. I think about that book all the time.
There have been some fun ones. I bet you could freelance for MacMillan.
E: Perhaps. I just don’t feel like I have my grammar down, commas were never really my thing. But I can learn, you know. I’ve adapted to many different style guides over the years.
J: I feel like if you didn't know the ins and outs, you could learn very easily. MLA and Chicago are pretty similar, it’s only when you get into AP that things start to get weird.
E: See that’s what I still retain a lot of from my days at the newspaper.
J: Ah yeah, I dropped that from my brain after I was done with Blue & Gold [our college newspaper].
E: Oh wow Blue & Gold, that’s a throwback.
J: I still have so many Blue & Gold branded stylus pens if you want them, there’s a whole bag in there you can have!
And the conversation devolved from there, you don’t need anymore of this transcript!