Donato M., Ph.D. – Editor

Since 2014, I have been providing developmental editing, copy-editing, proofreading, and manuscript mentorship for a variety of authors, in a diverse range of fields. Through my training as a literary scholar and my experience as a widely published creative writer, I understand many different writing genres. Whatever stage your writing is at, together we can take it to the next level.

At Hopkins, I mainly conducted research for my book A Flea the Size of Paris. The book comprises translations of comically surreal French poetry from the 13th-century, along with annotations and a lengthy introduction. My responsibilities on this volume included all the copy-editing, and the proofreading of the foreign language texts. Working across three languages, it was the most difficult editing task I have ever undertaken, and I am proud of the book's success.

During the residency, my time was split 60/40 between my own creative writing and public teaching duties. The teaching included: weekly manuscript consultations with numerous writing students, class visits, and a special writing seminar integrated into the upper-level creative writing curriculum. In Windsor I gained a lot of experience editing fiction, because most of the students submitted fiction for their manuscript consultations.

Since 2017, I have worked periodically as an assistant for two authors (one a scholar, one a creative writer) and for one mid-career classical music composer. My responsibilities vary considerably.

At various times, I may:

— edit works-in-progress (developmental editing, copy-editing, substantive editing, etc.)
— co-write parts of these works-in-progress
— act as an expert sounding board for ideas
— conduct primary research
— compile annotated bibliographies
— proofread citations
— fact-check
— produce subject indexes
— translate from French to English
— research grant opportunities
— write grant applications
— handle correspondence with contributors to a multi-author volume

As part of my graduate studies, I worked as a teaching assistant for a variety of literature courses at UBC and at SFU. I designed lessons, and often gave lectures. Most of all, I was responsible for grading all the students' writing throughout the semester. The courses were writing intensive, with up to 5 assignments per student, per semester, and as many as 60 students. The skills I acquired through teaching writing to hundreds of students in this way inform my work as an editor.

Over the course of three years, I sold nearly 1,000 short (500 word) articles about music to the online encyclopedia All Music. Many years later, hundreds of my articles are still on the site, and are still quoted in concert programs. I also took a minor in music composition at the University of Victoria. It would be a joy to work with music writers - so go ahead and get in touch. Let's see if I would be a good fit for your project.