Editing

Cinelle Barnes edits freelance for short- and long-form projects, including anthologies, collections, essays, memoirs, and advocacy copy. Inquiries for developmental editing, manuscript critiques, and literary consulting can be submitted through the “Book Cinelle” page.

Below are a few projects Cinelle recently edited or critiqued:

Essays, Stories, Poems

Joy Priest, Bitter Southerner, “I Feel Most Southern in the Hip-Hop of My Adolescence: On Southern Mobility, Intra-regionality & Internalized Misogyny”

Kiese Laymon, Natalia Sylvester, Toni Jensen, et al., A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South"

Aruni Kashyap, Bitch Media, “Are You Muslim? And Other Questions White Landlords Ask Me”

Tiana Clark, Nashville Scene, “Treacherous Joy: An Epistle to the South”

Hala Alyan, Catapult, “[Political] Dialogue”

Jeneé Skinner, Catapult, “House Was a Fist”

Zeyn Joukhadar, Catapult, “Starting Testosterone During Ramadan Led Me to the Sacred in My Trans Self”

Annabelle Tometich Martin, Catapult, “The Mango Missile Crisis”

Autumn Fourkiller, Catapult, “As an Indigenous Writer, I Push and Protect My Readers, My People, and Myself”

Testimonials

“You gave us excellence, Cinelle.” - literary consulting client, published in NYT, The Independent, Huffington Post, and Memoir Monday, and nominated for Best American Essays

“Wonderfully engaging workshop that has already exceeded my expectations and hopes... Your schematic on the setting up of a memoir just shaped these random pieces of splintered wood into a blue print... Again, with amazing gratitude thank you for sharing your experience, skills, and abilities.” - Sackett Street workshop student

“Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me, not to mention all the time and energy you put into reading and giving notes on my work! Your kindness and encouragement mean a lot to me, and you've given me so much great food for thought.” - Catapult manuscript consultation client

In recent a faculty review, a student wrote:

What did the facilitator do well?

1. Pacing (no assumptions made about what we knew or didn't know, didn't rush and all activities felt well thought out and purposeful).
2. Visuals: really addressed different learning styles—everything felt possible.
3. Modeling: I've never done any of the suggestions she offered and it was so helpful to "see" what she meant.
4. She had additional resources to offer and was generous in sharing her publishing journey, encouraging us to ask her anything. No hoarding here.
5. She spoke and taught from her own experience and there was nothing self-serving about it. Her humility was refreshing. Very relatable.