Taking a leaf out of Thayer’s book

This whole looking-for-an-editor experience has me quite overwhelmed. I’m crying one day, happy the next. The feedback I’ve gotten is pretty much all over the place. Very negative to very positive and everywhere in between.

I have so much to learn, and I’m going to try to emulate my character, Thayer, and be as eager and excited about learning as he is.

The person who had the most negative feedback, I am not hiring. We obviously don’t have similar thoughts about pretty much anything, although he did have some constructive and helpful comments and nothing he said was done so in a hurtful way. But if he doesn’t care for a cast of seven, then he’s not the editor for me.

The most positive, I am also not hiring. I don’t need an editor who is going to tell me everything is good. I don’t believe it’s all good. I know it’s not all good. I think I have a half-way decent opening that needs some work. The middle and the ending, I’m really unsure about. So how am I going to believe someone else who only says good things? Someone who thinks there’s very little to do? She’s not the editor for me, either.

I want someone who’s really going to push me to make the right kind of changes and still leave my voice in tact.

Based on what I’ve seen, on the feedback from various-sized samples, none of the other editors are really going to be able to give me the proper feedback without reading the whole story, and while I can see their editing style, it really doesn’t differ much from one editor to the next. They are all very good editors.

They do have enough differences, enough nuances in the styles, that I can get a sense of who I’d be comfortable working with. So I’ve narrowed it down to two possibilities.

And of those two, I’m kind of going with the unknown at the moment. Because she wants the full story, and will do an evaluation on the full manuscript, not a sample. I’m a little nervous about this, but I’ve done my research and have a good feeling about it. And if it doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world.

As Daria would say, “I’m free to change my mind.”

And to think this is just the first step.

I’ll be lucky if I have this book published by the end of the year because I am slow and deliberate about everything. I haven’t even started looking at cover art yet. One thing at a time.

4 Responses

  1. This is all awesome. I love it. I think you have the best attitude about what you’re doing. To go with someone who won’t just praise you and say nothing needs work but who also is encouraging about what you’ve already got. To recognize the gold in the rough and help you refine it. It isn’t easy making your craft better, but I think it’s so worth it in the end.

    So excited and happy for you that you’ve found some good people to work with on this process.

    And I’d be the same way – very careful and slow about the process to make sure the end product was what I wanted.

    I think you’re doing amazing and I can’t wait to see how all of it susses out!! 🙂 So proud of you!!

  2. Deanna says:

    I love how you’re sharing this journey with us Vivian and it sounds like you’re close to making your choice, based off an objective and well thought out analysis, plus a little bit of heart and gut. 🙂 IMHO, the fact this editor wants to see the whole piece is a very good sign.

    This whole process is going to involve some big decisions and some ‘leap out in faith’ moments. Sounds like this is one of them.

    *Cheering for you from the sidelines.*

    • viv s says:

      Heart and gut in spades; very little analysis. Well, little by my standards, since I analyze for work all day. Lol! 😀
      Thank you as always for all your encouragement!

Leave a Reply to viv sCancel reply