Authors, students, and working professionals partner with me to get their books and other content out the door. I’ve worked on business books, fiction, personal statements, resumes, and scholarly articles.
editing
What Type of Writer are You?
Certain qualities differentiate amateur writers from professional ones. For example, amateurs sometimes have little regard for criticism. They’re happy with the way their work is, not with the way it could be. Professionals are different. They’re in pursuit of what’s better, and “better” often necessitates criticism’s thrashing.
Better or Worse
Writing for a client is like going to the optometrist. I turn in a draft. They send it back with requested revisions and edits. I revise the copy, return it, and ask, “Better or worse?”
Get Out the Ironing Board
If I’m asked my least favorite chore, the answer is immediate: ironing. I will do any other chore and do it with gladness and lightness of heart before I will turn to ironing. I can’t explain the antipathy. Perhaps it’s the tedium found in ironing out a wrinkle in a sleeve or dress when I could be writing or drawing or taking out the trash.
Check Your Ego before You Wreck Your Writing
Writers can be an egotistical bunch. I should know. I’m one of them.
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What If the Writers Don’t Listen?
I recently was asked what I do if writers don’t listen to me. I was somewhat taken aback because I have no expectation that writers will listen to everything I say nor do I want them to. Writers are their own people, and they have a creative vision for their work that I may not fully understand despite my best attempts to read and critique closely. My job is to ask questions that encourage them to think and to be able to stand their ground when they are questioned about a choice they’ve made.