-If you are lucky a good editor is an expert that you fully trust. If you are very lucky, a friend. If you are blessed beyond measure a soul-mate.
-Believes that grammar is a path to beauty. Is in love with sentences.
-Helps you say what you tried to say. Helps you discover the meaning of your work. Let’s you see your vision.
-Taps you on the shoulder and gently says, “Ah, remember the reader.”
-Sends you back to the drawing board for more goodness and more hope.
-Believes in you when you don’t. Waits for you until you do.
-Thinks she’s here (as on this earth) in part for you.
-Learns from you. Teaches you. Is inspired by you. Awakens you. Is deepened by you. Guides you.
-Does not accept good when there is better and won’t settle for better until it is your best.
-Diagrams your book so you don’t have to. Knows literary theory so you can be free to follow your gut.
-Articulates in actual words the vague sense you have that something is not right. Hears the little bells you decided to ignore. Surprises you with her delight.
-Knows there’s such a thing as too subtle and too obvious.
-Knows what others are writing and expects you to be different.
-Thinks you’re hot stuff, even if she’s smarter than you.
-Recognizes that it is not about you or her but about something greater.
October 29, 2012
A Good Editor
October 20, 2012
The Language of Love
Here’s a poem written by Vicky, the seventeen-year-old protagonist in the novel I am currently working on.
The Language of Love
Love is that quiet thing that slides in on socked feet,
And doesn’t say I’m here.
Or love is that whispered word not perfectly heard,
Like in a game of telephone.
Sometimes I think that to be sure and true,
To love must always be past tense,
When at the end you sigh,
I loved you. Every second of my life with you. I loved you.
And maybe silence is the soil of love,
Where it can dig deep roots,
And speak only when it blooms.
