I learnt yesterday that my new editor is leaving HM&B to pursue a different career. I wish her well and am very glad that I dedicated A Question of Impropriety to her. I do think she pushed me in certain directions and challenged me to improve.
My new editor was also my first editor, so it is very much like coming home. She is also the senior editor of the historicals and someone I respect very much. Her thoughts are like gold dust. I am also pleased to be within the historical team as it were.
It is one of those things you rapidly learn in publishing -- editors come and go. They are doing a job and have lives outside. it is a working relationship. Occasionally, one has a friendship. I think your first editor always hold a special place. But it is a working relationship.
Being able to work with a wide variety of people and seeing how the why behind their thoughts is very important. Each editor has a different style. they may all be saying the same thing.
As I am currently working on my editing my ms, I find it useful to go over my revision letters. I have a habit of making the same mistakes over and over again. So it can be a useful exercise to look at the thoughts and see if they can be applied to the current work. I actually had not done this for awhile and some of the mistakes in my last ms could have been avoided. I have a bad habit of typing FAR too fast and not rereading...
2 comments:
Hugs, it's nice you know you're getting someone you know but it's always a little unsettling when you lose an editor because you do get used to how each other works and thinks.
I seem to have gone through quite a few with various publishers and being the orphan author is unpleasant. Like you though, I've always been fortunate in working with some wonderful editors who really know how to bring out the best in a story.
Hope the transition goes smoothly Michelle. I'm sure it can't be easy to feel yourself at the mercy of outside forces, but I'm so glad you're going back to an editor you know and trust.
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