Interview: Whitney Steen
Whitney Steen is a tech editor and graphic designer living in Chicago.
After realizing she had 20 years of work experience editing and designing publication layouts in the nonprofit and academic space, and over 25 years of unpaid knitting experience, she decided to combine both of those things into a small business.
She is also leading a one-woman effort to bring back crafting blogs through The Blog of Making Stuff on her website, wlsmakesstuff.com.
Follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/wlsmakesstuff/
and check out her pins on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/wlsmakesstuff/
And if you want to work with her, feel free to email her at whitney@wlsmakesstuff.com. Let’s get into the interview!
(This interview was conducted by Sarah Walworth and has been edited for length and clarity.)
What were you doing before you became a technical editor?
I went to school for writing and editing. I thought I was going to go into fiction editing, but I got very good advice from a grad school advisor who had worked in the publishing industry and I think could see which way the wind was blowing 20 some years ago when she gave me this advice: If you really want to do hands on editorial work, don't go into traditional publishing because it'll be years before you're allowed to do that. You can find editorial work in so many other industries. So I took her advice, and I took some jobs early in academic administration. They always need people to edit stuff in academic administration because there's so many written things that go out.
Plus, the nice thing about academia is if you have a skill that they would have to pay someone else for and you're willing to just do it because you're already there, they are more than happy to let you do that. So that was how I got into both doing more editing and also doing more graphic design layout work for the grad school I was working for at the time. I started doing their newsletter mostly because the only other person who knew how to use InDesign quit two weeks before we had to hand the student handbook into the printer. And I was like, well, I'll figure out how to make it work. And then after I did that, they let me start doing the newsletter.
I managed to parlay that into a career where my job description actually included writing the newsletter and handling the publishing and all of that stuff. I moved over to the true nonprofit space about eleven years ago and worked in nonprofit for quite a while, doing both the newsletter stuff and the grant and some grant administration work. And that's really kind of what I was doing right up until June of this year.
What made you decide to become a technical editor if you were already working in a space that was kind of editorial and fulfilling?
About three, four years ago, right before the pandemic, the grant administration side of my job had gotten so massive for my organization that I had to hand off most of my editorial newsletter work to our communications team and really focus more full time on grant administration. And at the time, I was fine with it, but as time went on, I realized I that popping into the communications team meeting to help with some story ideas and occasionally proofreading an issue was not really enough of that work to keep me entertained. And just not having that creative part of my work anymore was starting to really wear on me.
I started to get a little bit tired. And I was also just starting to look for a new challenge. When you've been with one organization for eleven years, there's not a whole lot that pops up that can surprise you anymore. And it's the same old, even when it's a new person with a new problem. So the pandemic hit, and of course I was sitting at home with a lot of time on my hands.
It was really bringing home to me that it was time to think about what my next step was. And I had found out in 2017 or 2018 what a tech editor was from a designer I watched on YouTube at the time. She had described what her tech editor did for her, and what that process of getting a pattern back was like. And I was like, wait, that's a job you can do? You can get paid for editing knitting patterns. I think I need to figure this out.
Maybe I should just look around and see how one becomes a tech editor. So I found The Tech Editor Hub, and I took Joeli’s course in very early 2022 and started looking around for jobs. And things really grew very quickly. Last year, I realized I was at a point where I needed to decide if it was just going to stay a side gig—that I only did a limited amount of jobs a month, or if I wanted to really push to grow it into a full time effort itself. And so I decided that I was ready to go. And in June, I left my full time job, and now I'm doing this full time.
I love this. I want to dive a little deeper into the difference between tech editing and the editorial work you were doing before. So you took the course through The Tech Editor Hub. What did that do for you? Do you feel like you needed a course because you were already doing editorial work, or do you feel like it was just practice for you?
I think the course was good in the sense that there is definitely a lot more math checking involved. I'm definitely used to checking for style. I'm used to checking for appropriate terminology, because I came out of the scientific research space—there was always the correct way you were supposed to say certain things. But I had never had to actually check the math before, so I think the course was particularly helpful for me for that.
I mean, there are certain things when you've been knitting for over 25 years that you can spot. And I had done that in the past where I had spotted an error in a Vogue Knitting pattern once. I was like, there is no way that this sleeve cap decreases this way. This just doesn’t work. I had actually written them, and they're like, oh, yes, we were just about to put that in the errata for that. I had a little experience spotting those kind of on my own before, but it was really nice to get a good methodology for how you work your way through a pattern and check all of that kind of math stuff.
What’s your workspace like?
I am very lucky to have a fairly nice sizable office in our house. We were lucky in that we bought this house a little over 18 months ago, so I was already tech editing when we were looking. We were able to kind of pick a house with a workspace we were both happy with. Mine is in a large spare bedroom on our second floor that overlooks the front of the house. It gets a lot of afternoon sunlight, which is my favorite kind of sunlight. I much prefer a lot of sun in the afternoon instead of in the morning. I have lots of plants in here. I have lots of storage for all of my craft stuff. It's just a really nice space.
I have a massive double wide monitor that I purchased back when I had a very tiny space. And then I also use my laptop as a secondary monitor and I have an external keyboard and mouse that plug in. I have a pretty flexible workspace so that when I'm checking through a pattern, I can have my spreadsheet with my math on one screen, and then I have the pattern itself in front of me on another. I have up any photos that I need to reference all of my little tabs on my computer, and anything that I might need to get at. But mostly it's on this big double wide monitor, which I can put two documents side-by-side on if I need to.
What's been the hardest part of tech editing for you?
I think right now it's that because I am moving into a new industry and leaving behind a job I was in for so long that I had everything organized exactly the way I wanted it. So right now, it's just getting my organization together. There's a lot of trial and error whenever you start a new job where it's like, I think this is how I'm going to organize it, and then you're like, well, no, that doesn’t work, and then you start organizing it a different way. So I'm still building out what my organizational systems are going to be, and because of that, sometimes it takes a little longer than I would like to find answers to things.
You know, I have the materials, and I know where to go for the answers, but I don't have just that memory of like, oh, yes, that particular answer about that sleeve construction is in this book, which I keep right here. You know, it's just kind of getting that system sort of established.
Yeah. And it just takes time and practice. And a lot of sticky notes.
I have converted to OneNote because we started using it at my last job, and it's like sticky notes, but they're searchable. So if you really can't remember where you filed that note about something and you know it's in there, you can just put it in the search bar, and it will tell you where it is.
On that note, what references or tools do you find yourself always reaching for in your work?
I really need OneNote. I've tried a lot of different project organization software, and the way that software works is the flexibility my brain wants. And like I said, the searchability is great because sometimes I don't remember where I filed something and that will help find it, and I like that you can set it up kind of like a book where you have sections, and then you have sections within those sections, and you can cross reference back to other things.
By the time I left my last job, I had two very extensive OneNote notebooks about the two parts of my job that I was doing and was able to leave those behind for the people who took over my job, and I was like, this is not, this is a living document. This is not the only way you do this. So, take it, change it, do whatever you want with it. But this will at least get you started. And so that's what I'm currently working on building for tech editing for myself.
That is amazing. That's really brilliant. Tell us, what is the best piece of wisdom you have heard or read lately?
I watch a lot of makers on YouTube of just about everything, not just knitters or crocheters, but I also watch a lot of people who make robots, and people who build crazy props for cosplay. One of the women I'm currently watching right now, she is creating a bookmobile. And so I was watching her video about getting her bookmobile all constructed, and she had to go back and redo something because when she painted the logo on, it had been a very pollen-y day in the area where she lived, and the pollen was making the logo not stick to the truck.
And she said this thing, and it really struck with me because it kind of hit where I'm currently at right now: When you have to go back and redo something that you already finished, it can feel like you're going backwards. But if you're learning something new, that's just part of the process. And I thought that was so well articulated, and it hit so well because when I watched that video, I happened to have been working on a crochet chart that I had to kind of go back and redo because I realized halfway into it, I was like, oh, this will be much better structured if I set it up this way. And I was a little frustrated with that.
It also really reminded me that I'm still in the early stages here, so some of this is new to me. Some of this is just a new way of thinking about something that I've been doing for a long time. It's a good reminder if you're learning something new. And I think it's a good reminder for designers, too, because, you know, I've worked with a lot of people who were doing their first sweater pattern after designing other things, they would get frustrated that I had so many comments about how their sleeves were put together, and it's like, yes, but this is your first sweater, and it's going to take some time to make sure we have it correct.
Do you have any advice for editors who are just starting out? If you could travel back in time, what wisdom would you whisper to yourself?
I think one of the things I would say, I wish that I had started doing formal office hours earlier.
I had been kind of messing around and looking for clients, probably for six or eight months. And I had this long list of things I needed to do to get my business up and running, website set up, and filing for my DBA with the state and various other things. There was this endless list of things to do, and I would work on them sometimes on the weekends, but I didn't have any set time. It would just be as I had time outside of my full time job. And so at one point, I don't even remember, I feel like I got this idea off somebody at The Tech Editor Hub, and I'm not sure who, said something about having regular office hours.
Maybe that would help, because if I had a set schedule for when I'm going to work on this, then it wouldn't be like, oh, I did 8 hours this week, but then I didn't do any the next week, and things would get done faster. So I started doing 2 hours, two evenings a week. I made sure my husband was aware of what my schedule was, and we made sure that we worked our dinner time around the evenings I had set. And so it didn't matter whether I had a client or not. If I didn't have a client, I came up and did business admin stuff, did content for the blog or set other things up. And if I had a client. I would work on the work for the client.
Sometimes if I had a client, I had to do more than 4 hours a week, but it at least got me kind of started. And it changed the way I thought about my work because it stopped being just this thing I am doing for fun on the side and became my actual business and I'm making time for this. And it just changed even the way my husband and I talked about it, where he would be like, oh, are you working this evening? And I started taking it much more seriously.
I wish I had even started doing that even earlier in the process because it just really helped me start thinking of this as a job that I am doing seriously and not just like this fun little hobby I'm doing on the side, because I got a lot done. And then I even started thinking a little bit ahead of time. What's my goal for today? What do I want to get done before I finish? And it just helps with the mindset of the planning and how things need to progress.
What's something in your business that you are happy worked out differently than you expected?
Well, for one, I'm very happy with how quickly I was able to go full time. When you're just starting out, it really does take a while to get that first client that's willing to say yes to you.
It's a struggle.
And sometimes it takes a while to get that second client that's willing, but then, it slowly starts to pick up steam. And once it starts going, and once you find that first client or two who are willing to come back to you and give you regular work, then it's surprising how quickly it starts to build up. So that's been probably the thing I've been most pleased is how quickly I've been able to ramp up things.
You know, social media is not as reliable as it once was for finding people. So having the Hub and being able to build a network through the Hub has also been super helpful. Just to make connections and get to know what other people are doing. When a client comes to me with a project I can't do, I can find someone that can help them with it. It's always really nice.
Thanks for being a part of our community. It's really special. What’s your favorite way to take a break from editing?
Well, if I'm not knitting or crafting something, I am usually in my garden. When we bought this house, I got very interested in gardening because we finally had outdoor space that I could do whatever I wanted to. And so I have been dabbling a little bit in plants and trying to grow a tiny amount of vegetables. We're about to do a major overhaul of our front garden bed because it got kind of a mess and needs tobe redone. So that's a really nice way to take a break and let my mind kind of relax.
I also run a little bit, and that's a really good way to take my mind off stuff if I'm frustrated or I'm stuck on a problem, to just go do something physical for a little while and just get my head completely out of that. Thinking space has been really good.
Do you find that you solve problems while you're running?
Sometimes I feel like it's more often when I get done with running my brain kind of clicks back in. It's not so much during the process, but it's like it needs a little break, and then when it turns itself back on, it knows how to solve things.
What are your hopes for yourself?
I really hope that I can continue building this into a sustainable business. I have some ideas about things I want to build out that will help maybe lower the entry to graphic design for knitters and crocheters specifically, because I know that's something that, I mean, that's such a expensive thing to get if you are not, if you don't have any skills in graphic design yourself. So that's one place where I feel like I can help lower the cost of producing an independent pattern. You know, tech editing is something that you need to spend the money on and you need to spend the time on. But if I can lower some of the other bits, then you have more budget for that. That's one thing I want to try to work on—I have a lot of ideas on that front.
Want to watch it all? And see what Whitney’s life goal for knitting is? Click on the image to watch on YouTube!
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Thank you for being here, dear tech editors! Leave a comment below (I read each one!) ~ Sarah Walworth