Let’s wrap-up this wild year and bring on a better 2021!
So…we’ve somehow made it to the end of this wild year. For my family, 2020 started off with us “temporarily” moving back to Bangkok from Singapore in March. We are still here, comfortably so, but with our future uncertain.
Still, despite the disruptions, it turned out to be a productive year for The Clarity Editor. For this, I am deeply grateful.
Thank you to those of you who entrusted me with your work. It’s always a privilege to be of service.
And thank you to all who taught and supported me and enriched my 2020 life, especially CIEP Cloud East, the FIGT Communications team, and the TCKs of Asia. (I’d love to mention each person by name but then the list would be insufferably long ^^;)
2020 in review
After this third year as The Clarity Editor, I’m finally starting to find my feet as a professional editor.
It’s partly thanks to the training and professional development I’ve completed and of course more experience. But it’s also from seeing clearer links between the different strands of my past and my current editor life.
In August, I already took stock of most of the year. So here I add two new developments since then:
- Starting work for the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Hiroshima Office.
While I used to manage projects in the United Nations system, this is the first time I am there as a professional editor. It’s gratifying to be able to tap into my international development experience and apply it in a new way. - Becoming an Intermediate Member of the Chartered Institute for Editing and Proofreading (CIEP).
This means that I’ve completed at least 100 hours of editing and a certain level of training. Next goal: Professional Member. Towards that, I’ll keep collecting more editing hours (500 hours!) and continue with my professional development. It’s exciting to have more to learn 🙂
I am full of gratitude for the wonderful colleagues and projects I’ve worked with this past year.
Looking forward to 2021
A lot of what I set out to do in 2019 still holds. But clearly the goals need updating. So here are my aspirations for 2021!
☑ Edit for international development
It was a revelation in 2020 that my professional international-development past could be used in my role as an editor. (Obvious in hindsight, but yes, it took me a while 😁)
Many incredible people work in international development, seeking better ways to serve vulnerable people around the world. Part of their work is to communicate new ideas and ways to promote equity and social justice.
My little part then is to help those practitioners and thinkers express their messages and ideas clearly. I dream that the easier it is for those ideas to spread and be put to practice, the better the lives of the most vulnerable will become.
☑ Support multi-language authors
The year 2020 let me reflect on my Third Culture Kid roots. And now I see how growing up between worlds equips me to serve as a cultural translator in English words.
I will continue to support authors for whom English may be a second, third, fourth, etc. language write convincingly in English.
I also want to help authors write in English that can be understood by broad audiences.
Both are important in the international development field. But they are also relevant to this world that is becoming more connected.
☑ Offer trainings on editing and writing for international audiences
In 2020, I designed and ran two webinars, one on editing and another on writing.
The participants from both sessions gave me lovely feedback, which gives me confidence that these trainings are useful. So! I’ll be looking for opportunities in 2021 to do more.
I love how this is another way that my past experiences in developing and conducting trainings can connect to the present!
☑ Provide more content through this blog
I’ve been slowly sharing (hopefully useful!) content to assist writers on this blog. It’s not updated as frequently as I would like because it takes me ages to write 😅
So it may come slowly but please connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter to get updates when they come.
Bonus? Workstation evolution 2020!
Let me conclude by sharing the evolution of my work station this year.
1. Our old desktop was in the noisy family room, so I set up my work station borrowing my husband’s laptop (and his old Pathology book). 
2. The desktop was dying anyway so my husband built me a new computer 🙂 
3. New desktop, all set with a big screen (can look at two docs side-by-side), nice speakers, and my first mechanical keyboard. 
4. The latest evolution: Added a stepper machine so I can change it into a walking desk 😀
It started off with a makeshift set-up using my husband’s laptop when we found ourselves back in Bangkok. When your work is done completely on the computer, it’s mighty uncomfortable working on someone else’s machine!
But thanks to my husband, my workspace has evolved into a proper one.
My workspace makes me happy. It’s where I feel I can be of use to others beyond the physical space.
May the year 2021 develop as clearly and happily for all of us!
If you’re looking for help with your writing project in the social sciences and international development, let’s discuss! Please get in touch via the contact form or email me at info@theclarityeditor.com.
Kindly note that I will be offline until 6 January (pandemic situation in Thailand allowing), back on 7 January. I look forward to being of service to you!
Cover image by Viramsinh Thakor from Pixabay
