The Editor

I had the great fortune of working with Andrea Barton, Editor, (Brightside Story Studio, www.brightsidestorystudio.com). Over the course of several years, we worked on two of my novels - ‘The Photograph’ (to be published on May 1st 2024) and ‘The Bracelet’ (currently out on submission).

The editing process was intensive and extensive. Sometimes, it was a joy as characters were fleshed out or a plot point or secondary story line came to life on the page. Sometimes, I wanted to bang my head against the wall especially when it came to the technicalities of punctuation (those damn em-dashes!). BUT, my books are infinitely the better for it.

This piece of advice comes to me every time someone questions the value of editing - a story emerges through the editing process. I now believe that to be utterly true. Neither of my books is quite the same but that’s OK because I like them more. I had to learn to ‘kill my darlings’ - which gets easier, trust me, because your confidence to write something better grows over time. An objective pair of eyes sees the structural, plot or character inconsistencies that an author often can’t. Embrace the process and don’t skimp. They know what they are doing!