My very first blog post!

Well, I know that no one is reading this yet...but hopefully I will have followers at some point!

I thought I would start things off by talking a little bit about the editing process. Not the editing process we do as authors before sending our babies out to agents. No, I'm talking about the editing process after you've signed the contract with the publisher and are on your way to publication.

So, obviously up until a few weeks ago, I'd never experienced this before. Now that I have a short story coming out at Cobblestone Press, I'm in the midst of it and boy, it is a humbling experience!

When I got my first round of edits back I was slightly shocked by the fact that almost every single line had a change! And for the most part, with a few exceptions, all of the changes were relevant and necessary! And I thought my story was near perfect. I can't help but think what a miracle it is that I was offered a contract to begin with. The cliche of finding a diamond in the ruff comes to mind.

Thank goodness for Word and track changes, it made the whole process move quickly. But gosh what an eye-opening experience for me. I find it truly amazing that another person, a trained, expert editor, can take my words, switch them around slightly and produce a sentence that is a million times better then the original. The skill with which my editor altered the flow of my sentences for the better is an amazing thing.

Of course I thanked her and did my side of the work as quickly as possible, but I found myself wondering if editors ever get credit for the amazing work that they do. I mean everyone knows that they are there, behind the scenes, doing reading, rereading and changing but do we actually give them credit for their hard work? Probably not enough credit, that's for sure.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that there should be an editor appreciation day...thanks for all the hard work and keep it coming! You all transform our stories into the diamonds that they are, so thank you again, and again, and again.