How to nourish, stretch and bolster your editing skills

Most editors know a little about a lot.

We obtain most of this knowledge over years of relationships with authors as well as from work and nonwork-related reading. We enter the profession with guidance to concentrate on the basics — style guides, dictionaries — and find our grooves as we accommodate more “motor knowledge,” the facts and tidbits “running in the background” that inform our editing.

Knowing a little about history, politics, literature, finance, science, technology, emotional intelligence, and so many other topics always comes in handy. This motor knowledge helps us better query authors. It signals us to look something up. It gives us the self-awareness to know when to leave the author’s words as they are.

Motor knowledge can certainly come through living, and part of being a well-rounded editor is having nonbook interests. But also, luckily for editors — who may be more inclined to read than to take a class or join a group — there are books to help us “learn the world.” In the age of Google, it may seem archaic to consult books for snippets of information, but occasional browsing of these volumes will bring the motor knowledge you need for editing — and provide fun conversation starters.