Blog RSS FeedBecause I hate wasting Post-Its, that’s why.
Sorry I’ve been so slow with responding to comments lately! I’ve been a little swamped. Who knew multi-tasking was so much work?
I got notes on TGLL from the Delightful Editor — she had some thoughtful insights that I’m excited to address. This whole situation has been such a lesson in the realities of publishing. I never imagined that I would be one of Those Authors — the ones whose editors leave. You hear about that happening, and you just kind of hope it doesn’t happen to you and you also kind of assume it won’t. But I know now that it can happen to anyone.
It was scary at first. An editor is the book’s staunchest advocate within the publishing house. No matter how great and supportive all of the other people there are, a book belongs to its editor, and s/he is the one who shepherds it through the process. Switching editors is like switching shepherds: the sheep think, “Is he nice? Does he like our wool? Will he feed us as much as the other shepherd did? Will he still want to hang out with us, even though he’s not the one who picked us out of the sheep lineup at the livestock auction?”
Okay, so clearly I don’t know a lot about sheepherding (except which dogs do it best), and I don’t know what the process is like for other authors in other situations.
But for me, it’s going as smoothly as I could have hoped. And I can honestly say that the book will be better for another pair of eyes. And the Delightful Editor is as charming and funny and fun as the Lovely Editor (which is probably why they’re such good friends). And as I looked over her notes, I got a very clear and comforting feeling that she had truly invested herself in the material. Her take on everything is fresh and exciting and great.
A few years ago, I worked in TV development, conceiving and writing up pitches for shows for kids and young adults. Though it was a collaborative group setting, I had one project that I adopted as mine — I wrote it, I outlined characters, I shaped the development of anything that hadn’t been settled on by the team (and even some things that had been). I worked on that document until my eyeballs just about bled. I knew it frontwards, backwards, and upside down. I knew every word. Then the company folded and the project got shelved. Boo! Hiss!
But the really important part came about a year later, when I found a copy of the document in my files and looked it over.
My reaction while reading could easily be summed up as: “Hmm.”
As in, “Hmm, I could tighten that. Hmm, that part is a little long. Hmm, why would the main character do that? Hmm, I think this needs to be fleshed out.”
And then the big one: “Hmm. I can’t believe I thought this was perfect!”
Nothing is ever perfect. Of course, you have to know when to stop or the book could end up, you know, never finished, but there’s also something to be said for a spit-shine. And the more time you have away from something, and the more truly caring and invested people look at it (and these need to be people who are willing to dig in and work from the core of the project), the better it will be thanks to those eyes.
And that is why a book I thought was grrrrrrreat thanks to the input of the Lovely Editor is going to be, in my opinion, supergrrrrrreat thanks to the input of the Delightful Editor. In fact, one of her offhand comments in an email became the basis for an element that I think is going to help tie some things together in a really cool way.
The other things I’ve been busy with: walking the dog in the morning, writing 2000 words a day on the WIP, working on the dog show, and sewing the object below, because I keep sodas in the fridge at work and I got tired of wasting new Post-Its every day just to keep grubby paws off my hard-won Diet Cokes.
(Yes, that’s underwear elastic, but I bought it brand-new, I swear.)
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July 19th, 2007 Katie Alender
tee hee hee! You made panties for your pop.
Christy, yesterday afternoon I heard the owner of the company yell, “Why is there a Coke wearing a dress in the refrigerator?” He’s gonna have to get used to it — I already made one for Sue, and I’m making more for myself. It’s totally addictive.
This has nothing to do with your post, but I wanted to let you know that the HP books just arrived at the library in a sealed box. I’m not allowed to open the box…. but no one said I couldn’t stare at it!
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
You would love Japan, Katie. They make little skirts for telephones, toilet paper dispensers, you name it! And here in the U.K., they knit cozies for boiled eggs, so come to think of it you’d do okay here too…
And although I know your comment about shepherds was just an aside, in the local paper a few months back there were no fewer than three job opportunities for ‘experienced shepherds.’ No inexperienced wannabe shepherds need apply!
I long to be in the same position you are in: working with an editor over something I’ve written. Until then, I endlessly comb over my manuscripts, trimming, polishing, standing back and thinking ‘No, not quite’ — and then doing it all over again, ad nauseam.
Personally, panties on a pop would just make me want to steal it more.
Pop panties!! Christy is too clever by far. You and she should get a side business going–I smell a fortune waiting to be made.
For people like myself, who say “soda” instead of “pop,” you could call them soda skirts. Not as much pizzazz, but no matter: the things would sell themselves!
Christen, you’re so brave. You have powers I don’t have!
Mary, I think I would do great in those places for sure. If it can be outfitted in fabric, I want to outfit it. Just yesterday I bought a plaid wool skirt for $1 at a thrift store… I’m going to make Winston a dashing winter cape out of it.
Eileen, I was afraid of that reaction! But I would hope the shame of being seen carrying around someone else’s pop panties would deter most criminals. I’m just waiting for the day I swing by the fridge and find the skirt sitting alone on the shelf. Heads will roll!
Therese, you’re right about Christy. She’s frightfully clever. How about “soda skivvies”?