Why I love my editors

Denise Bartlett was my editor for each of my Gypsy Shadow books. Shirley Anne Howard is reading my novel Divide by Zero at the moment, as my editor for Stonegarden. And I couldn't be happier.

Why do I love my editors?
  • I love seeing the words I wrote turn into words worth writing--that diet I put my book on leaves me with something smoother flowing, richer, like tasting cream instead of milk in the coffee.
  • I love seeing my word-pictures through new eyes and getting the chance to remove those distortions and specks I hadn't noticed--like filtering out the grounds before serving the cup.
  • I love the comfort of knowing if I missed something obvious (me English, reader American), it will be found before it's released--the coffee blend can still turn out right, neither too bitter nor too mild.
  • And I love knowing a second pair of eyes has spotted the unfilled holes in time-line or plot that I, being over-familiar with the tale, leapt over unseeing. Soon that precious drink of words might be served from a chip-free, drip-free cup.
Of course, the novel's not there yet--there's plenty of editing still to be done on it. But after the agonizing thoughts of, "Help! It's not good enough," as I started on my own, it's enormously comforting to have a real editor and think, "No, but it will be."

Thank you, Shirley.
Thank you, Denise.
And thank you, readers, too.

Comments

maryrussel said…
I wish I had your editors. They sound invaluable.
Sounds like your editors know their stuff and you know your writing--you all blend well together on the pages of a book.

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