MY SERVICES:
Clients and Testimonials

What people think of my work

Clients of Eagle Eye Editing all share certain characteristics. They know quality when they see it; they respect their readers; they’re serious about the craft of writing; and they’re open to learning new professional skills.

Natalie MacLean’s vivacious articles on wine and its culture appear in magazines and newspapers all over the U.S. and Canada. A dedicated writer, she relies on me to shape and polish her work: “Antonia reminds me of my favourite English teacher in high school: truly intelligent and knowledgeable about her craft. I can’t imagine letting my prose loose without Antonia reviewing it first – it’d be like going out half-dressed.”

Veteran journalist Sarah Brown has worked at exotic venues like the Bangkok Post as well as closer-to-home ones like London Magazine. For nine years, she’s been the mainstay of Ottawa Magazine – first as senior editor, now as the woman in charge of everything and everyone. She enthuses: “When I need a fantastic edit, fast, my first phone call is always to Antonia!”

Andrew Waitman, a former founding partner of Celtic House, mostly writes businesslike prose for the high-tech sector. But he’s also a closet creative writer, and appreciates my edits for him: "I'm a pretty good writer, but I'm often frustrated because I feel I haven't quite managed to say what I really want. Antonia has this almost uncanny ability to reach into my mind, pluck out what I had MEANT to say, and make my story look just the way I wanted."

Fateema Sayani, now senior editor at Ottawa Magazine, is one of the city’s most exciting chroniclers of the local arts and music scene. Of my work for her, she says: “I’ve turned to Antonia many times for guidance on writing and editing. If my story sagged, she made it sing; and her wit and charming personality make her a pleasure to work with.”

Translator, interpreter, editor and writer Diana Halfpenny is eloquent in both French and English; and her fluent work is much in demand in Montreal's business, media and software communities. She observes: “Antonia’s editing is a thing of beauty, created with such apparent ease you’d almost think you could do it yourself. Her editorial pen is trenchant, her rewriting tight. Integrating her edits always makes me exhilarated.”

Melanie Scott, former editor of WHERE Ottawa and a contributing editor for Ottawa Magazine, was a professional journalist for twelve years – coaxing fascinating stories from her community connections . Of my work, she says: “Every writer has moments when the right words seem elusive. The story moves along smoothly – and then a road block pops up. When I hand my copy over to Antonia, though, it always comes back flowing freely She has an enviable ability to take a good story, and make it great.”

Natalie MacLean, wine writer extraordinaire, generously acknowledged my services in her book Red, White, and Drunk All Over: “In a category of her own is Antonia Morton, whom I affectionately call my personal word trainer. Antonia has read almost everything I’ve ever written professionally – buffing and polishing it before the world saw it.”

Anne DesBrisay’s weekly restaurant-review column for the Ottawa Citizen has established her as one of the city’s best food critics. I proofread Capital Dining (a compilation of reviews by ECW Press, 2004) under the direction of Emma McKay: “All this was tremendously helpful. You made some great saves, and I found your corrections and notes spot-on. It was great to work with you – thanks for catching all those picky little details!”

Equal To The Challenge: An Anthology of Women’s Experiences During World War II is a volume of memoirs by some 50 Canadian women – all elderly now – who served in various capacities in the last war. Produced by the Department of National Defence (2000), the book involved a massive editing challenge. The result pays tribute to the thousands of servicewomen and civilian ladies who contributed to Canada’s war effort.

I’ve contributed my share of stories to Ottawa Magazine (formerly Ottawa City Magazine) and to its annual Interiors issue. I also help editor Sarah Brown to edit writers’ contributions, especially the more complex stories. She observes: “Antonia has the scrupulous eye and keen sensibility essential to a first-rate copy editor. We call her our ‘word goddess.’ She truly works wonders, and has a fast turnaround time as well.”

The glossy Ryerson Review of Journalism is produced by journalism students, guided by industry experts. For me, the main challenge of copy-editing the Summer 1997 issue was convincing young writers that “but that’s my personal style!” was not a sufficient reason to abandon rules of correct grammar and punctuation. (That issue also included my story on writer Stevie Cameron's then-new magazine Elm Street, entitled “Out on a Limb.”)

A Day in the Life of the Public Service, published by The Leadership Network, aims to “put a face on the Public Service of Canada” by profiling public servants across Canada with interesting jobs. For the 2000 edition, I was part of a writing, editing and production team that interviewed some fifty men and women, creating the magazine from their stories.

As interim news editor and writer for the (long-defunct) news-and-entertainment tabloid Capital City, I wrote and edited local stories with an “alternative” spin. One freelancer was veteran writer Roger Bird, then a professor with Carleton University’s School of Journalism, who reminisces: “Antonia and I worked together briefly but happily. I’m a good writer, but Antonia turned what I thought was solid steel into something that glittered like gold. Plus she’s fun to work with!”

Ottawa XPress picked up where Capital City left off, and in 2001 I also briefly copy edited for them – tidying up the work of amateur and student writers to match the hip, edgy tone of the paper. The editor-in-chief then was Fateema Sayani (a former Capital City writer), who said of my work: “Antonia has a sharp eye for spelling, grammar and structure. I learned much from her.”

As a junior reporter and copy editor at the Kingston Whig-Standard in 1991-1992, my particular bailiwick was the Editorial Pages and the Letters To The Editor section. (I also penned the daily Cheers and Jeers editorial column, and wrote columns, editorials, reviews and stories for the paper.)

In twenty years of practice, investment advisor Alan MacDonald has seen his share of dot-com booms and busts, IPOs and acquisitions, fortunes won and lost. He shares his perspectives on investing with clients through his entertaining weekly newsletters. Of our current work together, he says: “I can dash off an article in an hour, but I really don’t want to spend time cleaning it up. Antonia takes the task off my hands, doing a way better job than I ever could. That makes me more productive.”

The Media Awareness Network, a large and evolving website, is full of resources for anyone interested in media education. After a stint on staff as Media Issues Coordinator (1997-1998), for several years I was its regular on-call editor – responsible for editing web pages, presentations and publications. Anne Taylor, former co-director, said: “Antonia is a terrific editor. She’s extremely accurate, and has the wonderful knack of being able to say the same thing in fewer – and better – words.”

After graduating from journalism school, I spent the summer of 1997 working on various desks at The Canadian Press, our national news agency. I did both “quick and dirty” editing of news items, and more reflective editing of feature stories.

In summer 2004, I performed a major overhaul on a Personal Placement Memorandum for Celtic House – a successful local company specializing in high-tech venture capital and seed funding.

On the recommendation of Celtic House, I worked a similar magic again for another high-tech company: AXIS Capital Corporation (2005). Greg McElheran wrote: “We’re in good shape, a happy client indeed. Appreciate your work!”

Working for the House of Commons Committee Reporting Services in 2001-2002, I was part of a team responsible for producing clear, coherent records of parliamentary committee meetings – drawn from the (sometimes extremely unclear and incoherent) speeches and reports of MPs and subject experts.

For Health Canada’s Health Transition Fund (a $150-million initiative to support 140 health-related projects across Canada), I edited a series of fact sheets. I tidied up the prose, grammar and style of more than fifty project reports, and provided a “common look and feel” to the text (2001-2002).

I edited the annual Performance Reports, and the Reports on Plans and Priorities, for the former Library and Archives Canada in 2003 and 2004.

• Library & Archives Canada
• Correctional Services Canada
• Industry Canada
• Agriculture Canada
• The Millennium Bureau

• Elections Canada
• Immigration Canada
• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• National Research Council