I'm often asked if I'm writing anything new, and I have to shake my head and say, "No, not right now." But what I really want to say is, "Telling my own stories is wonderful. I'm so happy people enjoy my books, and hopefully there will be more one day. But the thing I love is editing."
Editing is not catching grammer and spelling mistakes (though the editor should rightly be blamed if they slip through). Editing, at its best, is asking the right questions. It's sharing a vision with the author, working toward an end product we will love. It's being entrusted with someone's work and guiding it until it can be shared with the world. An editor is a champion for the author and his or her words.
The reason I love editing, and the reason I think I'm fairly good at it, is because editing is a little like being a parent. Our children need to make their own way, but we should be there, asking the right questions so they can become the best people they can. As families, we share a vision of the future; in order to achieve that vision, we have to work together. Our children are not ours to keep; they are their own people. Eventually, we let them go, we share them with the world, a bit more each year. And when it is time to do so, we are happy and proud.
We book production folks joke that we tire of the books by the time they are actually in printed form, but the truth is, I don't. Every book I edit, I edit with my children in mind. So I'm excited when I have that book in hand. There's simply nothing better than introducing the book babies to my actual babies.
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| Author Fran Manushkin gave us one of my favorite on-going projects. I'm so glad I get to babysit Katie Woo! Heck, I'm practically her nanny. (P.S. She has more than 19,000 likes on Facebook!) |
