About

A jack-of-all-trades nerd…

My name is Loretta Pedersen and I am based in Columbia County, Washington, USA. Few can rival me in my love of language, literature, learning, and leaves, though my alliteration aptitude may be something of an Achilles heel. I live for learning and the written word, and I value both creative spirit and academic rigor in writing.

I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington (UW) Asian Languages & Literature program, as well as a Master of Science degree from the UW School of Environmental & Forest Sciences. My areas of formal research expertise include Mandarin and Classical Chinese language and literature; case law and criminal justice policy; collections curation (museum, arboretum, and herbarium); and plant chemical ecology, taxonomy, and cultivar development history. My autodidactic studies have focused on world literature, history, philosophy, languages, linguistics, science, mathematics, and many other topics. My editing and writing skills are informed not only by my years of academic study and professional experience, but also by careful and ongoing study of the following guides and resources:

• The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, Pam Peters
• Fowler’s English Usage, H.W. Fowler
• Fowler’s Modern English Usage, R.W. Burchfield
• Garner’s Modern English Usage, Bryan A. Garner
• The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
• The Complete Plain Words, Sir Ernest Gowers
• Etymonline
• Analyzing Prose, Richard A. Lanham
• The Art of the Essay, Lydia Fakundiny
• Style guides for all major citation styles (APA, MLA, CMOS, etc.)
• The Winning Brief, Bryan A. Garner