Here are thoughts from a former co-worker, former boss and current client on my editing skills:

"Lucy Chabot Reed knows the subtleties of editing, and she is as proficient with the ice pick as she is with the sledgehammer. She questions, queries and cajoles until the work is as polished as possible. She has edited more than 150 of my columns, and has made each one better through her care. I trust her with my work and livelihood."

– Michael Miller, news editor, Adrian Daily Telegram.
Award-winning American City Business Journals columnist; www.lightingthefuse.com

“Lucy is one of the best copy editors, if not the best, I’ve ever worked with.”

– Kevin Gale, editor, South Florida Business Journal.
Business newspaper journalist for 20 years.

"Lucy helped me not only make grammatical corrections to my book, she also strengthened the overall strategy for the delivery of the book’s message. I attribute much of my book’s success to Lucy. I look forward to working with her on my next book."

 – Suzanne Mulvehill, MBA, president of Profit Strategies Inc.
Author of "Employee to Entrepreneur" (2003).

* I received a 2002 Eagle award for best writing from American City Business Journals, the chain of 41 newspapers I used to work for. My entry was a column on wearing makeup, which also won first place in the Florida Press Club's commentary writing category in 2002. ACBJ has 500 journalists so this is a terrific honor.

* In 2002, I was named the U.S. Small Business Administration's Small Business Journalist of the Year for Florida for my work as editor of Women's Business, a monthly supplement to the South Florida Business Journal.

* I won first place in commentary writing from the Florida Press Club in 2002. Contest judge Lee Barnes, executive editor of The (Burlington, N.C.) Times-News, said this: "Modesty is not one of this writer's virtues. 'We both had the drive and the passion, the guts and the smarts to make if far' was a typical line, but her columns were undeniably interesting and well-written. The piece on wearing makeup was the strongest single column in the entire contest."

* I won third place in feature writing from the South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in 2002 for a story I wrote on an angel investor, a woman in Miami who invests in startup companies. These investors are typically anonymous. I was able to spend a day with her. In 2001, I won first place in feature writing from the Florida Press Association and third place in feature writing from the Florida Press Club.

* Women's Business, which I edited from January 2000 to October 2002, won four awards from the Florida Press Club in 2001, including first place for overall excellence in special sections. Contest judge Jeanne Abbott of the Des Moines Register said this: "Women's Business has a clear grasp of its market and plays stories that appeal to smart women with complicated lives. A strong list of stories in every edition ranges from reports on discrimination and pay inequities to a rich mix of profiles, commentary and reviews."
           Women's Business also garnered second place in feature page design, third place in feature writing for a story I wrote, and third place in science writing for a story I assigned and edited. That freelance reporter also won a regional award from the Multiple Sclerosis Society for a different Women's Business feature story I assigned and edited.
 

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