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How I became a book editor

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About Me

During my first year at university, my favorite professor nominated me to be an editor at the student writing center. I was honored because I was a geology major, after all.  Helping other students write better became the highlight of my week. My editing experiences spanned student essays by English language learners ​to doctorate dissertations by PhD candidates in the fisheries and wildlife and department. The power of words changed my life. I swapped geology for English and dove into the arts of writing, rhetoric, and literature. 

Despite earning three degrees, I could tell I wasn’t finished learning. I wanted to find a way to combine my love of words with my passion for the details of meaning, so I returned to university as a graduate student in linguistics. Around this time, thanks to the internet, I discovered my long-lost best friend from fifth grade, who happened to be teaching in Japan. 
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Me in 2009 at the top of Mount Fuji. It's freezing before dawn, even in the middle of August!
After graduating, I found myself on a plane headed to Osaka. As a university instructor, I enjoyed teaching writing classes the most: my students may have been shy to speak, but they had strong, unique voices on paper. In my free time, I volunteered to edit articles for the Japan Association for Language Teaching.

Four years down the road, I needed a change, so I moved to Istanbul, Turkey, and I began teaching high school students. The change from university teaching to high school required a steep learning curve. Three years later when I moved to Dubai, UAE, I knew the time had come to return to editing. Since 2016 I’ve been working as a freelance editor, helping independent authors, small businesses, and writing enthusiasts shape their words into clear, coherent, and concise stories.
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My first visit in 2011 to the Roman Library of Celsus near the Turkish city of Selçuk. I've always loved books!
These days I spend my time moving between worlds. Some weeks I’m on fantastic adventures in space or get transported to destinations where dragons are the true threat. Other weeks find me jet-setting around the world in cosmopolitan stories set in the biggest cities on earth. I love when I get tossed back in history and see famous events unfold from a fresh perspective. Sometimes I experience our world facing a future that unfolded vastly different from our current trajectory. From time to time, I get the chance to delve into the real world when I’m editing articles about history or the finer points of the English language. 
 
In August of 2019, I relocated to London, and I’m so glad you’ve found me doing what I love in a city I always dreamed of living in. ​I know how lucky I am! ​

Training

The Publishing Training Centre (UK English)
  • Essential Copy-editing
  • Essential Grammar
  • Proofreading PDFs
Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading
  • Proofreading I 
University of California, San Diego (US English)
  • Copyediting Certificate
Editorial Freelancers Association
  • Developmental Editing of Fiction 
  • Sensitivity Reads
  • Book Mapping for Developmental Editors
Editors Canada
  • Manuscript Evaluations with Greg Ioannou
  • Developmental Editing for Fiction and Memoir
Others
  • Developmental Editing by Club Ed, Jennifer Lawler
  • Developmental Editing: Fiction Theory by Liminal Pages, Sophie Playle
  • How to Publish Your Book with Jane Friedman

Education

University of Oregon
  • Master of Arts in Linguistics
Oregon State University
  • Bachelor of Arts in English Literature 
  • Bachelor of Arts in German 
  • Bachelor of Arts in International Studies

Enough about me! I want to hear about what you've been writing. Let's talk about your book!

Books I've read recently!

Kelly's bookshelf: read

The Book of Life
Shadow of Night
Not Just Jane: Rediscovering Seven Amazing Women Writers Who Transformed British Literature
Homeland Elegies
A Discovery of Witches
England's Queens: The Biography
The Plague
Pride and Prejudice: The Complete Novel, with Nineteen Letters from the Characters' Correspondence, Written and Folded by Hand
Convenience Store Woman
The Final Empire
Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies about Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be
The Midnight Library
The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales
Have Yourself a Minimalist Christmas: Slow Down, Save Money & Enjoy a More Intentional Holiday
Rebecca
The Color Purple
The Vanishing Half
The Haunting of Hill House
V for Vendetta
The Eye of the World


Kelly's favorite books »
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© Kelly Urgan 2025
  • Home
  • Services
    • Manuscript critique
    • Developmental editing
    • Line and copyediting
    • Proofreading
    • Query and synopsis package
  • FAQ
    • All about editing
    • The costs of editing
  • Resources
  • About me
    • Portfolio
    • Testimonals
  • Contact
  • Blog