Social
I’m happy to meet you!
Welcome! My name is Kyra (pronounced KEER-ah). I’ve been editing professionally since 2005. During that time, I have edited independently; as a contractor for newspapers, magazines, and nonprofit organizations; and for 12 wonderful years as a partner with Cindy Reeh and Connie Chaplan in Tandem Editing LLC. As of 2022, I have focused on a few types of work I feel best fit my strengths and capacities: scientific editing for health and social science research, copyediting for novels and short stories of speculative fiction, and building collaborative futures with fellow editors and others.
Collaboration is my solution
Throughout my life, the things I love to do have had one thing in common: they connect small groups of people who are passionate about building skills to achieve a shared goal.
I have been:
- A volunteer, volunteer coordinator, and administrator for environmental, social justice, and education nonprofits
- A musician performing Baroque chamber music for weddings and events and recording contemporary music for local composers
- A social dancer in the community-based traditions of Cuban rueda de casino and American old-time square dancing
- A board member, committee and workgroup member, mentor, and online event host for professional communities such as Mightier and the Northwest Editors Guild
I approach editing in the same collaborative way — by building partnerships with clients and colleagues to make work light and increase capacity for all of us.
Building professional community, with Mightier
I spent many years learning and growing my editing skills and connections with Tandem Editing LLC. Today, I continue to edit collaboratively: on scientific manuscripts and grant proposals here at Bridge Creek Editing; on larger global health projects with Cindy Reeh’s team at Rainier Editing LLC; and in new partnerships with scientific grant writers and editors at Mightier.
To pay it forward, I regularly mentor editors new to the field, independently or through the Northwest Editors Guild’s mentoring program. I volunteer pro bono editing and organizing time with the Academic Editing Circle and the Scientific Editors Network. And I co-host the Mightier monthly Zoom calls, open to all women building professional rooms of their own.
If you have questions about Mightier, mentoring, editing, or anything else discussed here, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any of the addresses at the bottom of this page.
The woman behind the curtain
I am a white woman (she/they) born in California, USA, in the 1970s and now living in Seattle, Washington, on the land and water of the Duwamish and Coast Salish peoples past and present.
I live with a chronic illness, which got worse after a Covid-19 infection in 2020. (This is one common way that long Covid presents.) Since that time, I have begun to learn more about disability justice and to experiment with new ways to organize movement toward a world of greater joy and justice for all.
I like to read, rest, cook meals (ideally with friends), bake muffins for neighbors (and myself!), write postcards, play games with my dog, and enjoy the beautiful outdoors in and beyond the city of Seattle.
I am honored to pay Real Rent to the Duwamish Tribe in gratitude for their relationships of care for the land and water I live on since time immemorial, and for their ongoing leadership in the many communities who live here now.
Memberships
Find me online
What a client of mine once said about discovering the existence of academic editing: "Why has nobody told me about this magic trick?" #amediting https://t.co/CMo6Q5iLwU
— Kyra Freestar (@KyraFreestar) January 22, 2021