Speaking of Writer Hell, as Michael Haskins was in our Sunday funny, I had one of those days in Hell yesterday. It was so bad that I completely forgot to write my blog. I have no excuse except that I’m in the final throes of Draft Two of Makeovers Can Be Murder, the third installment of the Fat City Mysteries. This is the time when my brain becomes a bowl of guacamole, littered with random creative-chip debris. I am literally walking into walls. People who encounter me on the street probably think I need to be committed, or at least routed into some kind of 12-step recovery program for the fuzzy-brained.
But no, it’s just me during the last-gasp phase of the creative process. It’s final deadline.
I’m working my way through my editor’s notes right now. How do like your editor’s notes? I love my editor, but I always wait for her notes with nervous anticipation. I feel like I did when I was sixteen years old and waiting for the college acceptance letters. When it does arrive and I read through it, I usually do a little dance because it’s inevitably far kinder than I could have reasonably anticipated. Then I settle down and address the notes one by one. They’re always right on.
What kinds of experiences have you had with editors in your career? And hey, if your an editor, what kind of experience do you have with writers? Are we a bunch of whiners? You can post as Anonymous and tell us the real scoop.
Can we dish?
I’ve always found my editors were spot on in their comments. I have had a really good experience with them – though I still dread the comments just like you – it’s like being back at school!
Kathryn, you’re not alone. For those who haven’t faced the editor’s notes and the approaching final deadline, it’s not for the weak of heart. It always reminds me of those long, skinny balloons that clowns use to form animals and hats. As soon as you squeeze one end, the other end changes shape and you have to go running to fix what the first edit broke. Scary stuff. Good luck finishing up your new one.
It’s that dread before getting the comments, Clare. I’ve found that editors are much kinder than teachers, in general! And you’re right Joe, the actual fixing of stuff is like the shape-shifting balloon. What gets squeezed in one place tends to blow out a paragraph someplace else.
Is that a picture of your editor, Kathryn??
Funny, Camille! No, my editor is gorgeous–that gerbil is supposed to be me, looking dazed and confused!
I’ve had the pleasure of having had the best editors in the business, and each one taught me something different and yes, their comments and takes were golden. And they have made me a better writer, each and every one of them. Looking back, I’ve been beyond lucky because they have all had my back, standing up for me like saints, and always my best interests at heart. Nope, I wouldn’t change anything in any of them.
John, in my day job I work as an editor (although in the technical world, not creative). I can only hope that my technical writers are so nice about my editing!