Past meeting: July 24, 1999
Introduction to Indexing and Editing Indexes

The July 24 chapter meeting was a success beyond all of our expectations! Twenty-four people from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington attended the 6-hour meeting in Richland, Washington (200 miles SE of Seattle) to learn about writing and editing indexes. Kari Kells, who teaches the USDA Basic Indexing course and her own Indexing Basics seminars, taught the workshop.

After a short business meeting with recognition of the hard-working eastern Washington volunteers, Kari began her workshop by asking folks to tell everyone how they had found indexing. People relaxed, shared stories, and felt much closer to each other. John Dalton compared it to a big group hug.

Next, Kari discussed the process of creating an index. She led a spirited class through the process of creating and editing indexes. For those who had completed their "homework," creating an index for a short article on indexing, Kari had provided written feedback. Everyone then got into smaller groups and talked about her comments on their entries. One kept hearing "oh, why didn't I do that," and some "yes, I did that entry well."

To close, Kari talked about marketing. She began with an overview of the publishing process, described how it is supposed to work and compared that process to how it really works. This brought some chuckles from the audience, especially when the amount of time to complete the project was discussed. Then, she launched into suggestions for finding work and maintaining relationships with publishers. These suggestions included being an active Chapter member, sending out Christmas letters (if you do that sort of thing), and talking to employment agencies.

After the meeting, about 20 or so indexers went to Red Robin for dinner, sang "Happy Birthday" to the folks at the next table, and then went to Drew Proctor's house for coffee and dessert on the back patio. Many of us didn't get home until after 10 p.m.!