ABOUT ME
Barbie Halaby
I am a full-time editor ready to support your writing goals.
You probably assume that I read a lot because I’m an editor. And you would be right! I read memoir, nonfiction, and fiction in just about any genre. I particularly enjoy historical fiction, literary fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy. These days, I’ll listen to audiobooks as often as I read on paper/ebook, just to give my weary eyes a break from being “keen”! Here’s what I’m reading right now. Thanks to my career, I consider all of this to be professional development.
I also spend my time parenting two teenagers, which generally means trading sarcastic barbs and puns, time-honored love languages in the Halaby household, along with encouraging them to read, eat a vegetable, and empty the dishwasher—not necessarily in that order.
I still drink plenty of tea to uphold that stereotypical editor image, although the pandemic initiated a strong daily coffee habit. I’m a dedicated jigsaw puzzle fan and would spend all of my money on Broadway shows if I could. I love to hike (especially to waterfalls) and to try (and sometimes abandon) crafts like knitting, cross-stitch, and sewing.
Professionally, I’m a member of ACES: The Society for Editing, where I serve as a member of the Board of Directors and guide the Training Committee. I also have been a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association since I started working for myself 20 years ago. I love to mentor and learn from my peers and to encourage those who work in this industry. I am committed to lifelong learning about the craft of editing through classes, conferences, and independent research.
I help authors improve their writing so their unique ideas have a chance to reach an audience saturated with books.
You want your voice and your story to get straight to readers’ hearts. I give you the support, the encouragement, and the hands-on guidance you need to trust yourself and to learn which instincts to follow and which are actually rooted in bad information. Editorial work is a bottom-up support system that lifts an author’s work to be more than what it was, even more than the author hoped it could be, and this is exactly where I do my best work. No matter what you’ve written, I can help you make it come alive!
I have the training, experience, and compassion to help you find your best words.
I graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in English from the College of Charleston, taking such fascinating classes as History of the English Language and Modern English Grammar. I have worked as an editor professionally since 2002, first learning the publishing process from acquisitions to print through the wildly popular Images of America series at Arcadia Publishing. Then I launched Monocle Editing to offer a wide variety of clients manuscript evaluation, developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading. I am adept at many style guides, including the Chicago Manual of Style, APA Style, and MLA Style. But if none of that makes any sense to you, that’s fine too! I’ll help you develop an internal style guide to ensure that your choices work best for your writing and that inconsistencies won’t distract the reader.
Connect with me on Instagram, Bluesky, or LinkedIn, or use my Contact page to see how I can help you find your best words.