Heart Your Editor, Man
Reading about writing is really kind of a dangerous thing. I say this because I had a stunning realization this morning when my YA editor called me.
I really don’t mind hearing from my editors, even when they have “you-need-to-rewrite-this-book” news. In fact, I like hearing from my editors. I like hearing their voices. I like hearing what they think of the books. Sure it’s occasionally painful, and I have to schedule in a week or so of “OMGWTFBBQAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” for each edit letter I receive, but that’s my failing. It’s not my editors’ fault.
I’ve read a lot of Writing About Writing where the editor is pilloried, and that’s really not fair. Sure, I’ve had my share of, um, uncertain quality when it comes to editing. (Like, something I call a Revenge Edit, where an editor had a personal problem with me and took it out on my work.) But that’s by far in the minority and to be ABSOLUTELY HONEST it was my own damn fault for engaging in a too-personal rather than a business-friend relationship. A great, great majority of the time editors are Good People and they’re invested, emotionally and financially, in making the book the best it can be. Their jobs and livelihood largely depend on work someone else–the writer–does. They have to deal with the writer, with the institutional bureaucracy of the publisher, with the fickle tastes of the public, and with all the minutiae of getting a book published. They work HARD.
I like to make my editor’s job as easy as possible. I like to be on deadline or a little before, I like to turn in work that’s as good as I can make it, and I like to send my editors little presents. I also like to tell new writers to appreciate their editor, if they’re lucky enough to have one.
Anyway. I had a phone call from an editor this morning that made me very happy. It’s great to hear when fans like your work, and it’s great in a different way to hear a compliment from someone in the industry. Both are like Christmas. With cartwheels. And chocolate. And dancing.
After a busy weekend–you know, I USED to sleep in at least one day a week, but that’s not happening for a long time now, I can just tell–it was just the pick-me-up I needed. I never thought I’d live to see a Monday become a cause for celebration.
I think I just might have more coffee.
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