A Passion for Editing


"I love language, and I am a stickler for correctness. When I see mistakes, I get crazy; I have to fix them. When writing is misspelled, poorly punctuated, ungrammatical, awkwardly phrased, and/or too wordy, the message cannot come across effectively.

"If readers cannot easily understand what is written, they stop reading. 'Clear, concise writing communicates effectively' is my mantra. This is the basic principle of good writing."

Beth Phillips has a sharp eye for errors, infelicities, and inconsistencies. She has an exceptional command of English grammar, spelling, usage, punctuation, and syntax, including the differences between American and British English. She has good language sense and a gift for expressing complex ideas clearly. In addition, she has a broad fund of general knowledge and well-developed research skills.

As the owner and operator of a private tutoring service for more than ten years, she taught writing skills, as well as math, reading comprehension, science, and social studies to clients desiring to pass the GED (General Equivalency Diploma) examination. She also tutored community-college and university students. The most common subject areas where tutoring was needed were writing skills and math.

Beth has been a professional editor since 1997, initially as an adjunct to her tutoring business then full time beginning in 2006. She is very versatile and has edited a variety of projects, including typescripts for books, fiction as well as nonfiction; screenplays; marketing materials; and training materials for businesses. She has also proofed the galleys for Scottish Life and The Highlander magazines since 2004.

Beth holds a bachelor's degree in Spanish, German, and secondary education and a master's degree in adult education. She is a member of American Mensa and a two-time Jeopardy champion.