About

(Please note that this website is under construction!)

Have an urban fantasy novel in need of line editing? Have you written a three-volume opus about the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 that needs copyediting? Perhaps a brilliant but typo-riddled doctoral dissertation in genetics? Or do you just need someone to glance over your cover letter for your next job application? I got you! Thanks to a diversified portfolio of degrees and interests, combined with a lifelong writing habit and an editing certificate from the University of Chicago, I am skilled in editing a wide variety of works and subjects. And I am eager to put those skills to use to make your next manuscript the best it can be—without compromising your unique voice or vision.

I am primarily a copyeditor, but I will also provide line editing and proofreading. I am open to all subject matter.

AI Policy: I avoid the use of AI in general, and I will especially never use it in my editing or in my writing. I will also not work with anyone who has used AI to generate their manuscripts. If you have used AI to assist you in your writing, please let me know when you first contact me. Thank you!

Resumé

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NOTE: My current legal name is Grace Harpole, but I am in the process of changing it to Grace Babcock. I will update the resumé once the change has been finalized!

Bio

I’ve been a writer longer than I’ve been able to read. In early childhood I had a habit of scribbling frenetically on paper while narrating stories aloud. This, however, did not translate into a writing career later in life. While I have continued to write in any spare moment I can find, the idea of selling my work for public scrutiny has always terrified me. I chased a career in just about anything else I could reach that wouldn’t subject me to the discomfort of creative vulnerability. As a result, I got my undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Political Science, I have studied numerous languages, I received a Master’s in Public Health, I have over a decade of biomedical research experience, and even did a six-month internship in sexual and reproductive health programming.

While it would be easy for me to look back on this array of experience as a waste of time, it would also be misguided. No matter where my whims took me, it all kept pointing me back in the same direction: I love to write. This wasn’t a surprise, obviously. What was a surprise was discovering an abiding passion for editing. Whether I was writing a grant proposal, a research report, policy analysis, my graduate thesis, or even public health awareness tweets, the part that held my interest without fail was the editing process. Yet I would have continued on the career path of least resistance had years of health-induced unemployment not forced me to confront my true ambitions. I have concluded that the most fulfilling career I can imagine for myself involves editing the works of others. I want to ensure that a lack of technical finesse doesn’t prevent someone from sharing their words with the world. In October 2026 I completed the editing certificate program at the University of Chicago Graham School, an experience that only confirmed that I was on the “right” path.

Outside of writing and editing, I have (unsurprisingly) a wide variety of hobbies, including reading, photography, knitting, crocheting, staring at pictures of historic architecture, and playing video games (anything from hundred-plus-hour RPGs to fifteen-minute quickplay matches in Call of Duty). The rest of my time is spent cuddling my eight-year-old French Bulldog, Avalon.

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