The Canberra editor

• Society member resitting the exam ($300; early bird $285)
• Non-society member sitting the exam for the first time ($765; early bird
$730)
• Non-society member resitting the exam ($380; early bird $360)
The accreditation scheme is run on a cost-recovery basis. The Accreditation
Board endeavours to keep the fees as low as possible, and has managed
to avoid increases since 2012. However, the on-screen exam has incurred
extra costs, particularly in the hire of venues. Although offsetting savings
exist in many areas, it has been impossible to avoid a very small increase
in the 2016 fees.
2011 accreditations due for renewal this year
If you gained accreditation in 2011, you will be required to renew it later
this year; we’ll contact you in the next couple of months about it. In the
meantime, we suggest you acquaint yourself with the Guidelines for
renewal on the IPEd website.
If you have any queries about the exam or accreditation renewal, email your
Accreditation Board delegate Ted Briggs: tedbriggs@grapevine.com.au.
I dropped out of the Communism class because of lousy Marx.
February general
meeting
Next general meeting
5:45 pm, Wednesday 27 April
Ferguson Room, upstairs at
the National Library of Australia,
Parkes Place.
Romance, fiction and editing
Donna Maree Hanson, a local writer, gave a lively talk to members at the
Feruary general meeting. Having published in the genres of fantasy and
romance, as well as preparing professional reports in her day job as an
auditor, Donna has been writing for the past 16 years. Her talk covered
the long road from that first spark of an idea to completed works to finally
attaining recognition and publication. Donna held members spellbound
while she spoke of her efforts to learn the craft of writing both fiction and
non-fiction (for work), and then learning how to self-edit, and then the
mechanics of editing and assessing the work of others. An active member
of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (CSFG), Donna participated in
critiquing groups, participated in local and national conventions, wrote
for the CSFG anthologies, and volunteered to co-edit the anthology
Encounters with fellow CSE member Maxine McArthur. She also
researched, wrote and published a non-fiction book titled Australian
Speculative Fiction: a genre overview.
As a published author, Donna has worked with a number of editors, and
she outlined to members how the process was usually collaborative,
constructive and informative.
Over the past few years Donna undertook a Masters in Creative Writing
at the University of Canberra, which included units in editing and
proofreading. After initially misunderstanding the length of work that was
to be edited as the major assignment, Donna ended up editing an entire
novel as part of the unit on editing. While berating herself for biting off
more than was comfortably chewable, she received a Distinction for her
work. For 2016, Donna has started a Doctorate on the topic of Feminism
in Australian Speculative Fiction. She will continue to write fantasy and
romance novels: her latest novel (under the pen name Dani Kristoff) was
shortlisted in the Australian Romance Writers Association annual awards.
The speaker for the April meeting on 27 April will be Louise Thurtell, a
highly experienced editor and one of the early Beatrice Davis fellows,
who has worked for a number of well-known publishing houses and is
currently a publisher and editor with Allen & Unwin. Take the opportunity
to learn from Louise's wealth of expertise: she will talk about how
publishing houses manage the editing process and how this is changing
as books and publishing evolve.
Kaaren Sutcliffe AE
6 March | April 2016 The Canberra editor