I know what you're thinking.  Says who?  Well, the truth is that editors really do get a bad rap.  Take the gal I'm dealing with in preparation of getting my latest book, a bio of Doc Holliday, to press.  I ran into some problems coming up with the photos, and rather than allow me to languor in my misery, she actually volunteered to have her intern do the groundwork for me.  The intern located the repositories for most of the photos I was interesting in acquiring.  The actual task of contacting the various sources in possession of them was then a breeze.

The editor saved my butt.  In fact, she saved more than that, since the

second half of my advance was predicated upon my furnishing an acceptable manuscript to the publisher, and that included photos.  By helping me to speed up the process, she helped me to speed up the payment schedule.  An expedited payment schedule meant I could pay my mortgage and put some food on the table for one more month.

Had the editor not stepped forward, the final payment of the advance might have been delayed by a month or more.

Not to mention that she saved me a whole lot of spinning-my-wheels time and energy.  Oh, yes, and did I mention that she saved my butt?

The bottom line is something I've written about several times before.  Although the age-old relationship between writer and editor is often fraught with antagonism, it doesn't have to be.  Now, I'd be the last writer on earth to say there's not an editor anywhere I can work with comfortably.  Not by a long shot.

But just knowing that there are some good editors out there, some people who see their jobs as more than merely acquiring a new manuscript, some people who actually work at making the writer-editor relationship go more smoothly, comforts me.

How about you?  Have you hugged an editor lately?  Told an editor you care?  Sent an editor a nice e-mail or thank-you card?  If not, why not?  And isn't it time you did?

Those are an awful lot of questions to answer so late in the day, I know.  So, until you do...

 

Smoke if you got 'em.

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