Editing and Coaching by Robert Christian Schmidt
When words matter (or you just need a cookie).
About Me
Long story short(-ish): I've been writing, editing, and—in general—coaching writers pretty much my entire life, doing it professionally since the early 1990s.
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I am a Fulbright scholar and was—once upon a time—a finalist for a Rhodes scholarship, as well. My graduate work in Composition and Rhetoric earned me an M.A. from Miami University (OH), studying under some of the country’s most noted grammarians. Along the way, my studies have also included a degree in French, and coursework in theater, Technical Writing and the contemporary American novel.
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Did I mention that I've also been a college English teacher? When I say that I enjoy working with people and helping to shape their writing, I'm definitely not kidding.
And I'm a card-carrying member of ACES - The American Copy Editors Society. (Actually, I don't have a card, but I do have a membership.)
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I work with pretty much any text that is handed to me—from a children's picture book or a fantasy novel to an annual report or a highly referenced 400,000-word history book. Or—if it's more your speed, everything from social media posts to press releases and PowerPoint decks.
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Even though I do work with pretty much anything, I'll admit that my love is truly for anything that has a "story" to it—be that a short or long piece of fiction, a website, or a memoir/biography. I love finding the through-line in a manuscript and making it sing. But who says an annual report can't do that, too?
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Want me to truly help you stretch your wings? I won't lie: fiction and memoir fall much more solidly in my wheelhouse than academic projects or projects with lots of footnotes and endnotes.
(I describe why I do what I do in even more detail in my blog, so be sure to check that out.)
And you're probably wondering about that whole "needing a cookie" thing, aren't you?
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I've been baking for even longer than I've been writing, I think. Starting in my mom's kitchen in a small town in South Dakota, then progressing to baking Christmas cookies in a tiny oven in Paris, and baking 113 dozen cookies in an apartment-sized oven in Baltimore.
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Although I tend to stick with tried and true recipes (and cookies are my specialty), I'm good with gluten-free baking, as well—and everything from Bundt cakes to quiche.
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Think you might need a snack while waiting for me to work on your edit? I can do that!