Kat Trigarszky – The Kat Edit

“To write is human, to edit is divine.”
– Stephen King

Hej, I’m Kat, a freelance writer, editor, and translator, based in Sweden's beautiful capital, Stockholm. I started my freelance writing and editing business five years ago. When not working with clients, you can find me tapping away in Scrivener, writing on my 1940s-set historical novels.

I offer a portfolio of editing, proofreading and language services, including Swedish to English translation, using the broad range of skills I have built up during the past 25 years. I provide high-quality, clear, and concise writing with a native English speaker’s touch.

There’s nothing I love more than working on a text to uncover the gems inside the writing and giving it a polish to make it shine.

You can read more about me and my work below, follow some of my favourite editing tips, or get in touch with me to hear more about working with me. I'd love to hear from you!

Still not convinced you need an editor?

What if you've looked at all this and you're still not convinced that you need an editor or that it would make that much difference? Read on here and let me persuade you...

What others have to say

"For my first epic fantasy novel, Katharine has done an amazing job. She exceeded my expectations by going above and beyond. During our work, she came up with many ideas for developing the storyline and helped me close several plot holes. Her dedication is truly inspiring."
—Daniel Kim Hansen"Katharine’s love for details, passion for words and understanding of story has made my novel writing journey truly wonderful. She is meticulous, not only on a syntax level, but also with the story itself. Her questions and remarks make it possible for any writer to improve their storyline in minutes. I am extremely grateful to have met her and can only warmly recommend her services. After all, she made it possible and easy for me to achieve one of my biggest dreams!"
—Julie Despraz“Katharine represents an extraordinary combination of capability and dedication. She would not settle for her output ever being anything short of great, and I cannot recall a single time from our working together, that deadlines, complexity, short notice or misunderstandings have stood in the way of her seeing the job done.”
—Johan Trocmé

My background and experience

I have worked as an editor for the past 27 years. After completing my BA (Hons) in Information Management & Publishing, I worked for a financial magazine publishers in London, moving after a few years to the London office of a Danish bank. My work there focused on editing and proofreading financial research reports written by non-native English speakers.After moving to Copenhagen with the bank in 2001, I expanded my work to include Danish-English translation of macroeconomic texts.In 2006, I switched to a Nordic bank, working from their Copenhagen office to establish an editing team working with financial research texts. That job moved with me when I relocated to Stockholm in 2008.During this time, I also copy-edited a book on equity valuation, and I edited and proofed a book on investment strategies.In February 2019, I took a step away from working in-house and set up my own freelancing business.At The Kat Edit, I offer writing, editing, proofing, and language services, plus Swedish-English and Danish-English translation.My aim is to help non-native English speakers with copy in English that shines.

If you want content that sounds like it comes from a native English speaker, let's chat!

What to expect when working with me

First, we'll discuss what type of editing, translation, or copy work you require. I work with editing across a broad range and I translate from both Swedish and Danish into English.Editing can mean a number of various things to different people, but I like to talk about three key types: developmental editing, copy and line editing, and proofreading.The broadest, most macro level of editing is structural / developmental editing. This involves taking a holistic view of a document, text, or (most commonly) a book. It is especially important for fiction, where it can identify poor characterisation, plot holes, structural issues etc. This type of editing takes a view of the work as a whole, looking at flow, pacing, writing style, and plot.The next level of editing is copy or line editing. Sometimes these are referred to as separate types of editing, copy edits focusing more on the mechanics of the language and line edits on the style of the language. For me, however, these two are inseparable; one goes hand-in-hand with the other. At this level, I eliminate spelling errors and grammar mistakes, inconsistencies in the language (verb tenses, noun agreement etc), and writerly tics (the overused phrases that each writer has, for example).At the micro level is proofreading, which is the final stage. This is about identifying any errors that might have crept back in during the back and forth between writer and editor or any mistakes in newly added text, and also checking the layout / typography – for example, for potentially confusing line or page breaks.Many of us also include fact-checking or formatting at the various different stages as well, but in a large publishing house, a different member of staff would most likely deal with these.Once we have discussed the type of work that you require, we can chat about deadlines and all that good stuff.If you'd like to work with me, or just hear more about how I work, feel free to drop me a line!

Editing tipsRead out loud

Once you are finished with your text, print it out. Then find yourself a quiet space and read it out loud to yourself.Hearing the words spoken aloud really does help you to identify any strange sounding phrases or missing words.Reading all of your text out loud from start to finish can also help you to identify structural changes that are needed on longer pieces.Perhaps you find something halfway down that works better as part of your conclusion. Or maybe there's a killer sentence that would work better at the start.Not only this, but seeing your words printed out can help you to spot spelling errors or repeated words that might not be as obvious on-screen.It's also a good way to find words or phrases that you repeat too often.It will feel odd at first, but persevere and I promise it will make a difference.If you work in close proximity to others and don't have a quiet place you can retreat to, you can always try doing this quietly, reading it out under your breath.Bonus tip: This trick works even better if you wait until the next day before reading your text aloud.
Doing this gives your brain a break and allows you to come at the text fresh.

ABL: always be learning

To paraphrase Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross: "ABL - always be learning." You can improve your writing by learning from the common spelling or grammar mistakes that you make.Once you've reread and proofed your writing, or run it through a service such as Hemingway App or Grammarly, note down the mistakes that you've made. You can use a document in Word or a notebook or just a sheet of paper.The next time you proof and check your writing, do the same. Keep on doing this each time. Then you can check for your most commonly made mistakes.Is there anything that you find yourself doing over and over? A mistake that you cannot help but repeat each time?Do an internet search and see how that grammar item works or why this word is commonly misspelled.If you're misspelling a word on the regular, then you can always try what we do with the boys' spelling homework: write it out correctly ten times. And then do it ten times again the next day. It seems to help the muscle memory.And if there is some grammar rule you consistently break, then learning how it works is a great way to get it right the next time.

Two proofreading tips

Tip 1: My first tip is to try to read your text from the bottom up, taking it one sentence at a time.Tip 2: If you want to take this one step further, you can even read each sentence backwards, one word at a time.Both of these strategies are really effective because they take the emphasis away from the structure of the text and from the meaning of your words. This allows you to focus on spelling, grammar and punctuation alone – the areas where those little errors can more easily creep in.These two methods won't help you with checking the overall flow of your text, but they are great ways to pick up on small, but significant mistakes.

"Why do I need an editor, though?"

Are you happy with the way your words and your copy sound right now?Or do you wish what you write could sound just that bit more succinct, or clearer, or more polished?Then an editor might well be your new best friend.Sometimes it's hard to quantify the exact impact that using an editor can have; you can't necessarily point to a rise in revenues, or increased sales from having polished copy on your website or in your reports.But using an editor can make a difference beyond simply improving the words on the page.

But how?

Let me ask you a question.What is it about your partner that attracted you to them?Beyond looks, or personality, or an ability to make you laugh until you cried, I bet there's something else. Something you can't quite put your finger on. That special something.Can you see where I'm going here?You can? Good. Because that's what good editing does. It gives that special something.It's not about deliverables, quantifiables, or measurables, or all those other factors (you know, the type of jargon that an editor will eliminate).It's about your content sounding good, reading right, giving that certain special something, without the reader being pulled up short by clunky phrasing or overly used (or misused) jargon.It's about setting your content apart from other people's, about giving it that special something that a reader cannot necessarily identify but leaves them feeling in safe hands and that you know what you're talking about.

If you want your content to have that special something, let's chat!