By Nadia Geagea Pupa
SD/PEN Past President
On September 20, 2018, SD/PEN past co-president, Isabella Furth, led a program meeting titled, “Editing and Emotional Labor.” It was one of the first presentations I attended as a relatively new SD/PEN member, and I was amazed at the topics and stories she shared. She not only had a great presentation style, but she also shared personal stories that stuck with me years later. Back then, we hosted in-person program meetings, and we would ask SD/PEN members to volunteer to write meeting recaps; it was Chris Fraser who offered to write this one. His recap was so thorough, that I’ve used it as a reference in writing this blog post.
First, what is emotional labor (EL) and why am I digging up a topic from six years ago? Arlie Russel Hochschild, sociologist and professor emerita at UC Berkeley, wrote about EL at length in her 1983 book, The Managed Heart (now in its third edition). EL is defined as caring work or relationship work; it’s about managing emotional resources, but it can often become devalued or taken for granted. For example, EL happens when a meeting with a client goes over the allotted time frame, and as much as the editor wants to end the meeting on time, the editor allows it to extend. As a result, the client takes this for granted and continues to compromise the editor’s time during the next meeting.
I appreciate seeing others openly discuss topics like mindfulness, self-care, and mental health on social media and other places on the internet. Just last year, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, announced loneliness and isolation as our country’s epidemic and growing public health concern. Needless to say, COVID-19 put a toll on both our physical and mental health due to the nature of isolating and sheltering in place. This leads to the topic of EL and how it’s still highly relevant today.
In Isabella’s presentation, she explained the importance of recognizing EL, which shouldn’t be avoided. Recognizing EL comes first, but then managing it comes next. It’s all about setting boundaries, controlling expectations, and preventing scope creep from happening. These all relate to establishing a good work-life balance, remaining mindful of others’ situations, and most importantly, maintaining our overall mental health.
The story that Isabella shared that I’ll always remember was about her grandfather, who was also an editor. He would wear his watch with the face on the inside of his wrist so he could tactfully monitor the time while meeting with clients. This small act embodies the essence of good EL management: keep the client in mind but track the time.
When working in isolation, as editors often do, we tend to “lose” ourselves in our work or overextend ourselves for a variety of reasons. We might even become lonely in the process. So, it makes it even more important to protect ourselves and set those boundaries. For example, pay closer attention to gratuitous apologies; don’t say you’re sorry because you won’t cross the boundaries you’ve set for yourself to tend to a client’s emotional needs—remember that it’s ultimately the client’s responsibility to manage their own needs. Another important tip I learned is to stop framing our work in terms of “helping” clients. Too often, “helping” means taking responsibility for someone else. Our job is not to help the client, but to facilitate the writing process.
“Emotional labor is real labor,” as Isabella shared. We aren’t just selling our editorial expertise; we’re providing “imaginative sympathy,” understanding, and a safe place for a writer to experiment. So, we should factor EL into our fees. Other tips we can gain from recognizing and managing EL include:
- Screening out content we may find disturbing
- Seeking patterns in clients’ behavior that might cross professional lines
- Anticipating seasonal ups and downs in EL
- Monitoring EL in all forms of communication
- Setting aside time to recover from the demands of EL
Isabella put it simply: “If it takes you 45 minutes to write an email, it’s not because you’re a slow writer, that’s emotional labor!” You’re taking the extra time to be thoughtful and effective in your communication with the client. As a freelancer, it’s important to factor these moments of labor—coupled with your years of experience—into your hourly rate or flat fee.
On September 1, 2024, nearly six years later, I will share an episode of The Editor’s Half Hour podcast where I interview Isabella to discuss this exact topic. She reiterates the points she made in her presentation from the past, and as the conversation unfolds, it becomes extremely apparent just how relevant the topic of EL is for editors.
Please visit www.piquepublishing.com/podcast to listen to (or watch) this episode. I am thrilled to be able to revive a topic that I believe should be continually discussed in our editorial community.