Meet Tiffany Yates Martin

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tiffany Yates Martin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tiffany Yates, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I kind of backed into finding my purpose. From the time I was in fourth grade I thought I wanted to be an actor, and that was what I pursued all the way into my thirties. Editing started as a way to support myself as an actor doing something other than waiting tables and give me the flexibility to travel for gigs—but while the acting bug eventually wore off, my love for editing only grew.

I was also writing at the time—as a journalist and budding novelist—and at a writers’ conference I realized that I kept gravitating to the classes that focused on editing rather than writing. Suddenly I realized that that was my truest passion: more than acting, more than writing…more than anything.

I moved into developmental editing and started working with authors and publishers on making their stories as strong and effective as they can be, and I’ve been happily doing that ever since. Now, in addition to my editing work, I teach and write about writing craft all over the world, for outlets and organizations like Writer’s Digest, Writer Unboxed, Jane Friedman, and dozens of others. I love what I do: As an actor or writer I felt like I was helping to bring a single story to life. As an editor—a midwife to story, as I like to think of it—I have the privilege of helping to bring hundreds of them into the world. As I always joke, my worst day at work is still a damned good day.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’ve spent my entire career as an editor in the publishing industry, working with major publishers and New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors as well as indie and newer writers. I’m the founder of FoxPrint Editorial (named one of Writer’s Digest’s Best Websites for Authors) and author of two books for authors: Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing and my latest, The Intuitive Author: How to Grow & Sustain a Happier Writing Career. I’m a regular contributor to writers’ outlets like Writer’s Digest, Jane Friedman, and Writer Unboxed, and a frequent presenter and keynote speaker for writers’ organizations around the country. Under my pen name, Phoebe Fox, I’m also the author of six novels.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I’m always struck by how much of my past experiences and interests that seemed unrelated at the time all contribute now to what I do as an editor: my acting and journalism experiences (I worked as a theater critic, among other newspaper/magazine writing) taught me how to deeply analyze story and character, the foundations of good story that underlie so much of the work I do as an editor, and my performance experience and skill are invaluable in my teaching, speaking, and presenting now. I was following my interests–but they all led me to, and feed into, my passion for editing.

So I’d say openness, flexibility, and resilience are high on my list of qualities that can help lead someone to their most satisfying career path:

Be open to the experiences offered to you: you never know what they might teach you that will be invaluable on your journey.

Be flexible enough to change lanes when you need to, do what you need to do to succeed–and see alternative ways to get where you want to go.

Be resilient enough to weather the inevitable challenges and setbacks of any career, any calling and continue to pursue what you love, even when the path gets rough (and it will!).

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

I learned many lessons from my mom, who raised us mostly on her own, but the one that resonates with me often is, “Happiness is a choice.” In any career–any aspect of life–there is only so much within our control, but how we react to all that isn’t creates the foundation for how content we are with our circumstances and situation. It’s easy to feel as if happiness will come when we reach our goals–but most of life is what happens along the way. Let yourself enjoy the journey.

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Headshot: Olympia Roll

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