Editor

I sent a short story to a professional editor and paid him 75$ to edit it and give me some feedback.

My first reaction to the marked-up story was “Look how they massacred my boy.” It looked like every sentence was wrong.

Then there were two long paragraphs that I had put a lot of work into, that he said were “nice” or “very nice” and had virtually no edits. Hmm.

I went out for a long walk so I didn’t sit and stew over everything I had done wrong. Of course, while I was was walking, I came to terms with the fact that he had done exactly what I had asked. No matter what I think of my writing, it is also important what the industry will think of of it, and especially what the reader will think. If something makes sense to me but the reader doesn’t get it, then that’s on me, even if it is difficult for me to see. For seventy-five lousy dollars I got a deep view into what a professional editor would think of my writing. This is how I can write things that stand out to a professional.

Tomorrow, I will go through the edits and comments and a) see what I think, and b) try to understand why he would think it would be better that way. Then I will incorporate what I want and learn from the rest.

He also said to keep writing because I had talent and that my story-telling was on point :) That was really nice to hear.