Welcome to My Blog!

Here’s the thing – I don’t know what I’m doing.

Ok, I do as far as editing goes. The specifics of the job and how to help people with their projects are familiar and known and I get that.

But freelancing? I’m still learning. I think I’ll always be learning with freelancing. And blogging? There are so many tips out there, so many dos and don’ts that feel almost artificial or make me want to turn away from the whole endeavour. Thus the whole back and forth element.

But I told myself I’d try. So I’m going to try.

And I hope that that confession, that I don’t really know what I’m doing, is comforting to someone reading this. Maybe more than one someone. We can fumble along together.

I already feel better about this whole blogging thing having said that 🙂

Alright, now that we’ve got that out of the way.

Hi! I’m Kaila (she/her). I’m a freelance editor and an aspiring author. At first, I’d put myself squarely in the poetry editing niche, which I do thoroughly love, but recently decided I wanted to branch out a little further, so I’m now officially also editing short fiction. When I’m not editing, I’m either working on my book(s), reading, or consuming some other form of fiction. Please know that if you bring up Star Trek or Disney, I may get giddy.

I’ve got a whole About Me page on my site, but here are some highlights (and extras!):

• I have a B.A. in English literature, and I minored in Celtic Studies.
• I learned Irish and Gaelic in university (part of the minor). I’ve lost all the Gaelic and remember, like, three sentences in Irish. I can also count to 10. I hope to pick it back up one day!
• I speak French, though admittedly not as well as when I was in high school.
• I live in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory.
• I used to work office jobs, during and after university.
• I started freelancing in February 2021.
• I’ve always loved editing, but my first love is writing fiction.
• I’m getting my first novel ready to query to agents (I’m somewhat a bundle of nerves over that fact), and slowly breaking ground on my next one.
• I’m a proud nerd, as you might have guessed from the Star Trek and Disney thing. I love talking to fellow nerds over things we mutually love or as a way to discover new things to delve into.
• My favourite poem is “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe. It’s a joy to read out loud, and the imagery and heart and soul in it . . . it’s amazing.
• My three favourite book series are the Serpent & Dove trilogy by Shelby Mahurin, The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, and the Wayfarer books by Becky Chambers.

As far as the blog itself goes, I’m planning on it being a mix of tips and tricks (for editing, finding editors, and writing), and things about my own experience with editing, writing, and freelancing. But, as I said, I’m not sure what I’m doing. So who knows what’ll come out of this? Whatever it is, thanks for coming along on the journey with me. I’m glad you’re here 🙂

I’d love to meet you guys too! Feel free to tell me something about yourself in the comments. Maybe even something we share in common 🙂

And you can come say hi to me on Instagram too! My editing page is @k.d.editing (which, like this blog, is undergoing some adjustments as I figure it all out), and my bookstagram, which I post to regularly, is @bookishkaila.

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You know what’s also hard? Wrapping up a blog post. How do I end this thing?