A good editor is your most lovingly attentive — and yet deeply critical — reader. He or she wants nothing more than for every sentence to sing, for each paragraph to flow gracefully into the next.

But polishing paragraphs and smoothing out sentences are only part of the job. As an editor, I simultaneously evaluate structure, language, pace. Would that last paragraph be better as your opening? Is the article or chapter too long or too slight? I’m also checking your argument for holes and flaws in logic to make sure you’ll leave readers convinced. Finally, I’m looking for what’s not there. Are there other facts you need? Are there additional details that would flesh out a particular passage?

I believe in working transparently with clients, so I can edit on any platform (Microsoft Word, Pages, Google Docs and others) and track changes and insert comments. Clients can accept my change, revise it themselves, or revert to the original phrasing.

Editing, then, isn’t a process of making corrections. (If you need someone to attend to only spelling, grammar, punctuation or style, I can refer you to several terrific copy editors.) It’s a collaboration between a writer and an editor who both are equally invested in making a piece of writing as strong as possible.