Hello fellow EFA members of the Carolinas!

“It’s alive! It’s alive!” We’ve officially resurrected the North Carolina Chapter of the Editorial Freelancers’ Association and are going batty with organizational details. Read on for some spook-tacular announcements.

Not in the Carolinas or a current member of the EFA but want to find out more? No problem! Send your name to chap_nc@the-efa.org to get on our email list.

New Co-coordinators: Jim Bessey and Elizabeth Farley-Dawson

Recently, the EFA Board reached out to us about reactivating the NC chapter, which had lapsed due to unexpected circumstances. We are excited to facilitate networking and share activities and resources. By sharing the duties as co-coordinators, we hope to be more responsive and create an active chapter that will benefit us all.

Updated: Thursday, November 12 @ Noon-1 pm 1-2 pm EST: Virtual NC Chapter Meeting

Who are you? Let’s get to know each other! Mark your calendars and bring your favorite brew to your webcams for our first virtual meeting before the busy holiday season. We’ll mostly be putting faces or voices to names, but we’ll also brainstorm ideas for the coming year and make meeting plans for January 2021.

November: Chapter Member Poll

Have a ghost of an idea floating around? Share it with us! A member poll will be sent out after the November chapter meeting. Tell us what activities, resources, or meeting topics would most benefit you. Please respond quickly to ensure your voice is heard.

Here’s a short preview of some short-term goals:

(1) Gauge interest of members in South Carolina to have a joint chapter. South Carolina has fewer members and do not currently have a formal chapter. We’d like to approach them about forming a chapter together, and adding a SC-based co-coordinator.

(2) Monthly virtual meetings, some of which will include special topics and invited speakers. These will continue for the foreseeable future, even after coronavirus wanes.

(3) Provide meeting content useful to members who are not exclusively text editors. We know some members focus on graphics or do freelancing outside of text-heavy documents. If you are one of these, we’d like to ensure that this chapter is valuable to you as well.

(4) Possible regionally-rotating meetings in person when it’s safe to do so, perhaps quarterly or biannual. North Carolina is wide and everyone meeting in person is unlikely to happen (though maybe we could schedule one annual meetup). Smaller, regional groups could be helpful–we all need to get out from behind our screens once in a while!

We have more details and other ideas coming, and additional input and feedback is always welcome. Please contact us at any time.

Professionalism and Inclusivity:

We want the NC Chapter to be a place where everyone feels welcome. You’ll notice when you get access to the NC Chapter Board that the first post outlines a basic code of conduct. Other documents will follow soon, including links to official EFA documents and other resources.

Wishing you good health and lucrative freelancing,

Jim Bessey and Elizabeth Farley-Dawson
Co-coordinators, North Carolina Chapter
Editorial Freelancers’ Association
chap_nc@the-efa.org