Were your parents big fans of Barbra Streisand? 

Yes! My mom always swore that I was named after an aunt, but she loved Streisand’s music, and I suspect the unusual spelling of my first name comes from that. My dad told me he used to call me “Funny Girl” as a toddler too, based on that 60s musical/film Streisand starred in long ago (he’d say it in Thai, as we were living overseas at the time).

One or your primary areas of expertise is copyediting, is that right?

Correct. Besides long-form writing, I copyedit everything from blog posts to magazines to books of self-published authors.

I’m also an editor and find that most people don’t know that there’s a difference between a content editor and copyeditor. Can you explain to readers what a copyeditor does?

I’m happy to explain the distinction, noting that there may be no difference at all depending on how an editor or client defines the term (it’s possible copyediting is seen as being more minimal because of the way it’s used at newspapers such as the Dallas Morning News, where I interned, but it does vary in focus).  

[Editor Note: Click here for our article with Barbra’s full answer on the differences between a content editor and copyeditor.]

AP or Chicago; Oxford comma: Yea or nay? 

I “grew up” writing with the Associated Press Stylebook, and still use it regularly for features, serving as a meeting correspondent and such. But the UCSD copyediting program delved deep into The Chicago Manual of Style, so I’m good with using it, as well as APA and a few other styles. I still prefer the leaner AP approach to things, including deleting the third comma in a series when it isn’t confusing for readers, as their needs are most important.  

If you could repeal or institute one or two grammar rules, what would they be? 

I hate capitalizing the “The” before an organization’s name, probably from having to correct that a zillion times in titles such as The University of Texas. What bothers me more is when people equate things like grammatical knowledge or how someone pronounces a word with intelligence. For instance, a researcher I know did his graduate work on what made some people assume Latinos were less intelligent than them; he found that it primarily rested on whether Latinos speak with an accent (as opposed to speaking more than one language, or having darker skin). 

Some of the smartest people I know didn’t grow up in circumstances that gave them ready access to textbook-style grammar, but get along just fine. After all, that’s what editors and speech writers are hired to help out with!

What kind of writing and editing do you specialize in? 

My background is serving as a science writer. I love covering landscape sustainability, nature and conservation topics. An example is a feature I wrote about the impact of climate change on conducting field studies about wildlife, or another one on the reasons dolphins and whales might end up stranding on beaches  (marine mammals rely on a single lungful of air to swim fast and dive deep for their food, and it’s possible they become physiologically maxed out when sonar or other startling things cause them to resurface too rapidly). I call myself a healthy living writer in general. That includes covering health, diversity and geological science topics for state, federal and non-profit clients. 

On the editing front, my business Vital Wordplay focuses on providing copyediting, proofreading, and some developmental editing and coaching to self-published authors, in addition to working with publishing houses, website clients and magazines and the like, such as proofreading The Nature Conservancy’s annual report in Texas recently. 

Your LinkedIn sites notes that you’ve won writing awards. What have they been for? 

I’ve freelanced part-time throughout my career and won two national health writing awards for one of the early features I wrote for the AARP’s Latino magazine about aging well mentally. In 2010, when I was still covering the conservation and landscape restoration research projects at UT’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, I also won an award for a feature about passionate conservationists. 

As a part-time Createscape user, what do you do on the days when you’re not here? 

I have a home office that I share with a cat that kept hanging around until the dog lover in me relented (a neighbor I’d foisted Ziggy on had also just moved away). I love coming here as a break from home and getting to know other freelancers, who are often so passionate about their work. 

I saw on LinkedIn that you’re an instructor of a non-aggressive martial art. Does that mean you conscientiously object to aggression? 

I’ve trained for 25 years, and taught off and on for about 12 years, and my answer is that it depends. Some people might not ever be able to hurt another person, and that’s OK, and others might only do so under duress, like I suspect I would be; the truth is, you won’t know what you’re capable of until you’re in that moment of aggression, so I think it’s important to know a range of ways to protect yourself and have options. Learning a self-defense art that allows you to turn the throttle down is valuable because the guy who’s groping you inappropriately in public might be a relative who’s drunk at your family reunion, and you may decide to slough him off in that moment and talk later rather than beat him to a pulp; or the person who attacks you on a street corner may be so drunk or high that they can’t feel pain and wouldn’t stop the attack if you applied a muscle-tearing move instead of one that they had no choice but to go along with for biomechanical reasons. Aikido is also mindfulness focused, which is valuable for all aspects of life; it’s a bit like learning how to stay centered while doing moving yoga. 

Are you here in Texas to stay, or just passing through? 

Both I hope! My dream life would be staying here during winters and hightailing it come summer to someplace cooler. Living overseas in a city like Madrid also fascinates me, and I’ve visited Ireland and Japan so far. 

Thanks for answering all of our questions Barbra!

Article by Riki Markowitz