While I am catching up after losing several days of work to a hard drive crash (and just because you can see I am able to get on the Interwebs and all doesn’t mean I’m anywhere near out of the woods), my friends are helping me out with new and recycled posts of their own. Today author Michelle Ule writes about how we met, in a piece that’s made me blush.

The Author-Editor Relationship: Newbie Author’s POV

The relationship between an author and her editor can be exciting, horrifying, enlightening, good or bad.

It’s based on one thing only: the quality of the manuscript at the end of the process.

That’s the goal.

That’s the point.

That’s the most some people look for, and certainly a fine finished project should be one in which both author and editor are content. No matter how fraught with drama the experience may be along the way.

Some author-editor experiences begin well. Others have a hiccup or two. Take my first experience, for example.

I’d never published anything before my 2011 release “The Dogtrot Christmas.” Thrilled to have been part of a project, I turned in my manuscript early. I then forgot about it in the press of other things happening in my life.

Like traveling to Budapest with relatives.

Like my Facebook account getting hacked and forgetting I had lied about my birthday (what day was that again?) because I don’t believe FB needs to know everything about me—thus I couldn’t clear up the mess for nearly a week.

And having to change all my account passwords. (By the way, should you be doing that right now?)

Like forgetting my email address needed updating.

Then I got this email at my business email address:

Hello!
I haven’t heard from Michelle regarding the email below. Since then, I’ve also done the edit on her manuscript and sent that last night. I’m mostly concerned because the turnaround time here is very short. I’ve contacted Barbour and they gave me your email … and say they don’t have a phone number. So … I’m stumped! Can you help?

Yikes! I was mortified to discover my editor (the thrill of those words my editor) had been trying to find me for a week and we had a tight deadline.

Deadline?

For what?

Oh, no! I completely forgot my manuscript would be edited and galley-proofed and marketed and my services were still called for! (Pity the brand new author.)

I was leaving for Budapest in three weeks! Have much time did we have?

Three weeks.

But my editor (oh, the thrill!) had never worked with me before. Perhaps she knew I was a novice, how much work would this take and what she would have to do with my manuscript?

Jamie Clarke Chavez is a professional.

So, in my newbie way, was I.

My heart was racing. I’d do anything to look like a professional. So what did we need to do? Her response:

This editing business is a collaborative process. I need you. 🙂 So let’s do this: You look at my notes. In spite of the fact that they’re 3 pages long for just 16K words, I think you’ll see that I’m just going round and round the mulberry bush. The tweaks are simple. So this may be something you can literally knock out over the weekend. (Or whatever.) Let me know what you think. I’m fine with finishing it early.

I read through the notes immediately. What had I done? What would require so much rewriting? The first comment (using track changes) appeared on the first word in the manuscript:

Regarding this indent, Chicago Manual of Style says we don’t indent the first line of a chapter or after a hiatus break. So that’s what’s going on here. 🙂

Nice, friendly, not too scary; but the first word? What more could happen? I responded politely, but to explain my feelings—I wanted her to understand where I was coming from. I’m a firstborn; I tremble at possibly making an error.

I’m not alarmed, but thanks for the warning. 🙂 I’d like to note that in writing this story, I was very conscious of the 16K-word limit, and thus more sparing than I might have been otherwise.

She came right back with a reply:

I checked with Barbour, and we can use up to 20K words! I’M SO PLEASED THAT WE HAVE WIGGLE ROOM! I HOPE THIS MADE DOING YOUR TWEAKS A PLEASURE. As a side note, I don’t think having a word limit—especially a tight one—is a bad thing. It makes you really conscious of Every. Single. Word. And that’s a good thing.

Can you see why it was love at first track changes? 🙂

For me, working through edits with Jamie (five times now), has been pure joy. We debate word choices, explain historical challenges, poke fun at each other, condense some sections, expand others … and always count the number of words. It’s like putting together a puzzle—and Jamie and I are both jigsaw puzzle workers—where you have the completed picture, but it just needs to be sorted a little different. (Not sure that metaphor worked, but Jamie can’t track change this blog post! Ha!)

Not worried about edits in Budapest!

She’s the only editor I’ve had so far, and this author is perfectly content with that.

And that first little gem we worked on—it took two nights, total, to edit—“The Dogtrot Christmas”? Part of Barbour Publishing’s A Log Cabin Christmas Collection? It made the New York Times best sellers list!

Thanks, Jamie!

Former navy wife Michelle Ule is a writer, genealogist, and Bible study leader. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in English literature and married a submarine officer whom she followed all over the world with their four children. Currently she and her husband live in northern California, where they often enjoy visiting with their five adorable grandchildren.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”