Strolling along on my Journey of 1,000 Miles, I came to a fork in the road. We all hit these moments of near impasse. It’s the realistic moment of choosing to go forward down the intended road, shrouded in fog and uncertainty or continue to trek along the familiar ground you’ve been on. Left or right.
Last night, I had a consult with an editing firm, Red Adept Publishing. For a small fee, they go over roughly five pages of your work with you via Skype, line by line. Another good one I recently worked with while deciding was Brittany Foster. She provided a brief look into what to expect and was equally wonderful. I admit, thinking of spending money on an editor in my mind sounded ridiculous. I mean, I have Beta-Readers for God’s sake and read this story over and over again. What good will the editor do?
Holy cheeseballs, I was teleported (no pun intended) back to English class and realized the things I did repeatedly, what I did incorrectly and how to adjust the way I write. We may be the drivers of our stories, but editors have the map.
It’s somewhere the equivalent to going to school naked but still learning something. So, I sat there and was shown on nearly every sentence some of the technical mistakes I was guilty of performing. I attribute the feeling to an 8-year old boy who is confident he is the best baseball player in his division. And then someone shows you how you need to play when you go up to the next league. Needless to say, I still plan on playing in this metaphor, I just need coaches in order to get better and that is exactly what an editor should do.
Choose your editor wisely and make sure it’s the one that speaks to you. As I was told, no book is perfect, there are always at least 20 mistakes someone in any given novel no matter who edits it. Last night, on top of the vast editing research, I’m debating which road to go. Whichever way I decide to venture, it will certainly be the path that leads me to publishing.
So, good news, the pace I was setting along this journey just got faster. Bad news, the title of this blog meant nothing. I just wanted to use the word Farkle. Thank me later.
Jonas Lee 