Editors

As I read through my current WIP this weekend to get my bearings again, my thoughts wandered to the editing process. I remember getting pages and pages back with red marks and comments everywhere. It never bothered me, I knew they all made sense and would make my book better, which is what we all want as authors, right?

I thought to myself, as tedious and daunting it was and as much as I wished for the light at the end of the tunnel, what my editor experienced was probably even harder. I can’t imagine the patience it takes to go word by word, page by page, taking in every punctuation mark and spelling error. How mind numbing it must be!

I am not made of what it takes to edit a book. I would get bored way too easily and allow my mind to wonder elsewhere. I would get fired, because hey, editing is not my forte and it never will be. My mind gets excited about creating a story, words do not stimulate my brain like the creation does. It blows my mind that editors love words and their correct use so much, editing actually stimulates their mind.

I am thankful that we were all individual of each other, with minds and thoughts of our own. If we were all the same, stories wouldn’t be what they are when they come out in print. If writers didn’t create stories, editors wouldn’t be able to wield their red pens and without those red pens, there would no books. Oh what a boring world we would live in!

This Monday morning, I tip my hat to all the editors out there who put up with all the bad grammar and punctuation marks, to make our books the beautiful creations they are!