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Editing: A Multipotentialite Career

A mug labelled "like a boss" next to text: "Editing: A Multipotentialite Career"

When you have multiple interests or passions, it can be difficult to choose a career path. Though often boiled down to checking for grammar and spelling mistakes, editing is a field that includes variety, creativity, and the opportunity to always be learning. This makes it a perfect multipotentialite career choice for those who love words and stories.

Variety

Editing has so much variety baked in, especially if you’re running your own business. Editing includes what you’d expect—grammar, spelling, and the like. But it can also include communicating with clients, writing, marketing, invoicing, networking, and administration. And then there are the different types of editing, which focus on different elements of a written work and require different skills.

Creativity

While there is a stereotype of a pedantic editor who squashes creativity for the sake of following “the rules,” editing, like writing, is creative. It takes a creative mind to see what a writer intends and to find ways to bring that meaning to the surface without obscuring or erasing the writer’s voice.

Editors also do a fair amount of writing themselves—editorial letters, queries, emails, blogs. Some may also have some design skills if they work with images, proofread, or offer typesetting. Nowadays a ton of editors are also on social media, sharing photos or creating videos to promote services or share information. All of that is creative work.

Continual Learning

Editing also offers the ability to always be learning. There’s the usual professional development needed to stay on top of language trends and usage changes, but there’s also the potential to learn about the subjects you’re editing. One project I worked on taught me about the break-up of Yugoslavia. Another taught me about pirate slang. One time I even spent half an hour learning about tropical leeches to fact check a novel. Having such vast subject matter to learn from is definitely one perk of being a multipotentialite editor!

Editing can take you down a lot of different rabbit holes. Sometimes exploring different topics can inspire or fuel other creative projects. Other times this exploration can lead to both professional and personal growth. All of this makes an editing an excellent multipotentialite career.

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