Thank an Editor Day is Today!

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editing, editors, love, support, Thank an editor, thoughts, Twitter, writing

Editors.

The writer’s best friend.

The writer’s saving grace.

They take our words, those piles of thoughts and descriptions, and help us form them into the best story it can be. From grammar to word choices to story development, from cutting scenes to adding scenes, editors push writers to dig deep, to make sure our characters grow, to make sure our story is told in the best possible way. Those gifted individuals inspect every word, delve into the story line and rearrange scenes, take a scalpel to our manuscripts and help us put them back together.

Without editors writers would be lost.

Jump on Twitter today and #thankaneditor. They do so much work and deserve thanks. Here’s a fun way to do it!

I’ve worked with a few editors. I have enjoyed it every time. We become a team, working together, passing ideas back and forth, and celebrating when we get it right.

Rarely do these fabulous people get praise or acknowledgement. Editors have a huge role in the journey of the creation of a book. These talented word whisperers are a gigantic support to authors.

Go thank an editor. Tell them how awesome they are. Make them smile. To all the editors out there who work so hard…

Have a wonderful wordy day.

 

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Be Brave, Have Faith

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#p2p16, editors, over-thinking, panic, Pitch to publication, submitting, thoughts, Twitter writing contest, writing

A very dear friend threw her words into the Twitter contest Pitch to Publication or #p2p16. A contest to get your words in front of editors.

She messaged me last week calling herself INSANE!

Of course I responded with a big WHAT?!?!?!

In a matter of moments she had found #p2p16, had read through the editors’ wish lists and found a couple who might just be looking for what she had written. I have read this particular manuscript (in one of its previous draft stages) and I loved it. Her words are stunning, the idea unique, dealing with eating disorders, an issue that needs to be brought into the light…so I told her to DO IT!

So easy. Right? Well, no.

When you ponder doing crazy things, panic sets in pretty quick. Was her query good enough and what about her sample pages? And if they request more, how much more and were her words okay?

These are questions with no answers. Because you can’t know until you put your words out there for everyone to see. And one person might love it and another won’t. Because we live in the land of art, where everything is subjective. Oh, art why you gotta be that way?

But keeping your art to yourself because of fear isn’t okay. So my friend had to be brave. She had to have faith in her work. And she had me and her hubs cheering her on!

And she did it! Then she panicked, because why wouldn’t you?

Now she waits to see if any of the editors she submitted to asks for more pages. Then she’ll wait to see if she is chosen by one of those editors to have them help her go through her manuscript. What a great prize!

Then her words will go before agents.

The chances of getting that far? I don’t know… not fabulous, but why not try? All it takes is trying. A little faith. A little bravery. And go for it.

My friend and I connect on several levels, but one we laugh about is our ability to over-think. We would revise forever, the words never good enough, the story never quite right. And our procrastination skills are legendary. Just ask us, we’ll tell you…later.

Sometimes it takes a rash decision, a moment of JUST DO IT to get past the over-thinking and let go of the need to revise again.

Only then does the magic happen.

And that one moment of JUST DO IT, that moment of bravery, of faith…could lead to dreams coming true.

I believe in you, My Lobster! Chosen or not, I am SO proud of you!

Pacing, Squealing, Stalking

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acceptance, editors, life of a writer, rejection, revisions, thoughts, waiting, writing

Ah, the magic of waiting, of biting your fingernails, of right at the edge of stepping into a dream!

Writing means rejection. Believe me, I’ve seen plenty of those. They hurt. They cause sobbing, self-doubt, and overall panic.

But, there is another side of writing. Acceptance. It’s a little harder to find, but will cause ear-splitting screaming.

Last November, I entered a short story contest ProjectREUTSway put on by Reuts Publications because it sounded like fun. Take a fairy tale twist it, crumple it up, add some strange paranormal element and BAM! awesomeness. I needed a break from all my revisions. I wanted to write, new stuff, weird, scary, creepy stuff. So for four weeks, I read the assignment on Sunday, wrote something, and send it in by Thursday. Then I waited for Saturday when Reuts would post top looks, excerpts from their favorites from that week. I waited with my heart in my throat.

I was doing it for fun! Except I wasn’t. The prize called me. Those top look spots haunted me. At the end of the contest, winners would be chosen … those stories would get a spot in an anthology. I wanted to be published. I WANTED IT SO BAD.

Well, week three an excerpt from my story appeared on top looks. I screamed. I cried. I celebrated with my Twitter friends.

When the contest was over, I waited for what seemed like forever for the list of winners. A list of authors whose stories had been chosen as winners to be in the anthology or runners up to be posted on Reuts’ blog.

I WAS ON THE LIST! I screamed. I cried. My entire body shook with excitement.

But it wasn’t enough to be on the list. I needed to know how many of my stories had been chosen and for what … the anthology, the blog. AH! I waited another month for the list of stories to appear.

I wanted … I NEEDED at least one of my stories to be in the book. (pretty much like EVERYONE else)

The morning of the announcement, I thought I was going to puke … or have a heart attack. I hadn’t slept well the night before, I couldn’t focus. It wasn’t just me, right … all my Reutser friends? When the post went up, I stared at it, afraid to look. Not looking meant not knowing and that allowed hope to live. If my stories weren’t chosen to be in the anthology, that was okay. Right?

No.

So I looked. I held my breath. I pushed aside my nerves.

Two of my stories were chosen as winners. One was chosen as a runner-up … which was just posted on the PRW Runner-up tour last week http://blog.reuts.com/prw-runner-tour-liar-liar-kathleen-palm/. EEEEEKK!If you heard screaming on the final day of January. It was me.

Even more exciting, last week I received e-mails giving me the name of the editors I will be working with to make my stories awesome. So I keep running over to my Google Drive to look at my words waiting for comments. Nothing yet. I am so flippin’ excited! I can’t even … *flails*

Anyway, what about that fourth story I wrote? I revised it with the help of my fabulous CP Elsie Elmore   (http://elsieelmore.com/  and @ElsieWriter on Twitter) and sent it to a magazine. Fingers crossed, kids. I should hear from them next month … maybe. Hopefully.

So I wait. Someone should have warned me about all this insanity-causing waiting before I joined the club. Seriously. *headdesk*

But we submit. We wait. Because we write. Sharing the words is important. *high five*

Even though this post is all about me … that’s all I got, people … so many of us have these stories. The tales of triumph, tales of heartbreak, tales of thinking your head will explode with all the wondering and panicking. The life of a writer. Who would do this to themselves?

Anyone want to play a game? I have Dr. Who Monopoly and HP Clue.