Editing

So part of the whole writing process is editing. This goes along with making the sale and being published. Editor sends you edits. Tells you when they must be done by. In the last few weeks I've worked on edits for both my upcoming books - Conference Call and Lost and Found. I love editors who catch those stupid mistakes - like in Lost and Found I had my heroine living in basement - but duh, there are no basements in houses in Santa Barbara. My husband lived there for a few years and I feel I know it pretty well, but oops! Good catch. Or just today - I mentioned they moved "five steps to the bed" but hell, they were sitting on the bed and just stood up. How'd they get five steps away? Oops!

I remember my first book sold and the goofy things my editor found, like she was undoing his buttons of his shirt but he was actually wearing a T-shirt earlier, and then there are the embarrassing things like Brazilians and whether someone had uh...hair...in the previous scene and my favorite editor comment "Is this anal or vaginal?" Blushing furiously while commenting in "track changes" in Word is getting to be normal for me.

Those catches are important but even more important to me is when my editor suggests a change that makes the story even stronger. In my book Rigger, my editor (former editor, sob! Suz, why did you have to go?!) suggested some very important changes about Alek's past that made the ending of the story so much better.

I'm so lucky to have worked with some awesome editors from whom I've learned so much and I hope that I don't make the same mistakes over and over again! (Though some little things do slip by me!)
Kelly JamiesonComment