Chava Willig Levy - Communicating With Uncommon Clarity

What exactly does an editor do? Opinions vary. Here's mine:

An editor alters, adapts or refines the written word, making it shine prior to publication or presentation.

Equally important is what an editor should not do: unintentionally eclipse your voice with his or her own.

As your editor, my mission is to ensure that your prose is correct, clear and compelling. Yet it will be your unique voice — not mine — that resonates throughout your document. Take a look at these before-and-after illustrations:

UNEDITED TEXT

The first time Sarah met Mrs. Kaplan, she was making her way through Lenox Hill Hospital. For some people walking into an unknown room might be too overwhelming. When Sarah tapped on a door and asked, "Is this a good time?", she felt it was opportunity inviting her to make new friends.

Sarah's was a familiar face at the hospital and like all the volunteers, she made the patients forget, at least for a moment, that they were sick. This time, from the start it was Mrs. Kaplan who made Sarah forget.

EDITED TEXT

Mrs. Kaplan may have been profoundly ill, but only her warmth was contagious, only her laughter infectious. She knew she was dying of cancer.

Sarah knew it, too. As a Lenox Hill Hospital volunteer, it was her job to know — and to help patients forget, at least for a moment, that they were sick. Yet from the moment she tapped on the door and asked, "Is this a good time?", it was Mrs. Kaplan who made Sarah forget.

UNEDITED TEXT

HaRav Moshe Feinstein points out that other aspects of bikur cholim (cleaning and washing and taking care of the needs of the sick person, etc.) are also extremely important. But the difference between davening for the sick and these other aspects are that davening is a mitzvah that is unable to be accomplished via others whereas taking care of the needs of the sick can be indeed done through a messenger or via others.

EDITED TEXT

HaRav Moshe Feinstein states that the difference between praying and caring for the choleh is that praying — unlike caretaking — is a mitzvah that cannot be delegated.

My editorial services include book manuscripts, university application essays and editorial troubleshooting.

Book Manuscripts

A Fire In His Soul, by Amos Bunim (Feldheim Publishers) — A biography of Irving M. Bunim and his impact on American Orthodox Jewry

The Way It Was, by Edith Krohn (Artscroll/Mesorah Publications) — Touching vignettes about growing up Jewish in the Philadelphia of long ago

Chasam Sofer on the Torah (Volumes I and II), by Rabbi Yosef Stern (Artscroll/Mesorah Publications) — A translation of the 19th century rabbinic scholar's biblical commentary

Everyone Needs a Family — a coffee table publication commissioned by OHEL, the family services agency, to commemorate its 30th anniversary

To contact me about your manuscript, click here.

University Application Essays

You've worked hard and it shows. You're proud of your GPA, your board scores, your recreational activities and your community service hours.

But now the final hurdle looms before you: the application essay. You've written it, and rewritten it, more often than you'd care to admit. It's okay, but you know that okay is not good enough.

I can help you, not by writing your essay for you but by tightening your structure and sharpening your prose. Take a look at this before-and-after illustration:

UNEDITED PARAGRAPH

Graduate studies in management may seem a bit out of place considering my professional experience until now. For the past three years, my professional field of choice has been education, yet in my undergraduate studies I have pursued business topics. But upon closer appraisal, an M.B.A. makes sense in terms of my professional objectives.

EDITED PARAGRAPH

Graduate studies in management may seem an odd detour for me, a high school teacher of Judaic studies. But in fact, an MBA is an essential ingredient in my career plan as an educator and as an entrepreneur. Here's why:

To contact me about your application essay, click here.

Editorial Troubleshooting

If your writing project — be it big or small — has hit a snag, I can help you set things right. To contact me about your troubleshooting needs, click here.