<aside> 📎 A single page won't tell you everything about someone, but I hope this gives you a good idea of who I am as an editor and a person. If you have questions about anything here or how it might relate to your project, feel free to email me at [email protected]
</aside>
<aside> ✨ I know that sometimes, we feel more at ease or just appreciate working with folks who have similar or relevant backgrounds. I come from or am adjacent to Native/indigenous, queer, poor/working class, sick/disabled, and neurodivergent communities, and would be especially happy to work with folks from my communities or take on related projects.
</aside>
I started building a career in editing and copyediting because I was already editing for the people around me and wanted to work with a bigger circle. I love helping people communicate with their readers: my top priority as an editor is to help you tell people what you want to tell them in a way that's easy for them to understand. For me, that's both fun and fulfilling, and I'm excited to work with you.
Aside from my editing work, I have my own career as a writer. I'm a working poet, and if you're curious about my creative work, you're welcome to check it out at ariannetrue.com. I also teach writing, mainly poetry, and I love it. Teaching writing and being a writer myself has informed my editing a lot. Thinking about what makes a piece of writing effective and clear, trying to give your reader the experience you want, and knowing from the inside what it's like to work on a piece of writing (and to share it with someone or ask for edits): you'll have my experience and knowledge as an editor, a teacher, and a writer all working for you.
Before I completely dedicated myself to language, I worked a lot of different jobs in different industries, and even when they're not obviously related to the work I do now, they still inform and support it. Sometimes they come in handy more directly too, like when I'm already familiar with a topic and the language it uses, and it's fun for me to reconnect with those jobs a little through editing projects.
Some of my past favorite jobs: zip line tour guide, challenge course facilitator, office manager for an acupuncture clinic, historical tour guide, organic farming/gardening program manager and farm help, biology research intern at a top national museum, and first aid and CPR instructor. I've also worked a lot over the years as a naturalist, with specialties in marine intertidal ecosystems and the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, so I'm always really excited to take on projects in that sphere.
I've also traveled a lot, and lived in a number of countries for short periods of time, so I enjoy working on projects with international components or outlooks. Learning languages is one of my favorite things to do, and I've been teaching myself Japanese for the past couple years. In the past, I've also been conversational in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, though they're both a bit rusty these days.
Outside of work, I keep pretty busy! I'm in a traditional Appalachian dance group, the Eclectic Cloggers, and am also part of other dance communities. I love all sorts of games. I run around outside in our beautiful forests and am known to enjoy a good urban hike too. As you might imagine, I also read from time to time, and my favorites are poetry, experimental writing in any genre, comics and graphic novels, genre fiction in general, and queer romance novels, though I also spend a lot of time with (and love) non-fiction, and have even read a couple of especially compelling guidebooks cover-to-cover.