Non-Naked Writers

See that pile of paper with the Post-Its arranged along its right edge? That's my upcoming book, Your Book, Your Way, back from the proofreader.

Well, actually, editor is more like it because this manuscript got the worthy attentions of Ruth and her magic green pencil.

Ruth is a longtime friend and my favorite editor. We have a great relationship in many ways, not the least of which is a shared passion for good words on a page. I trust her to be forthright in her opinions of my work and she trusts me to be open to those opinions.

I also know that her ministrations are an insurance policy of sorts, that obscure references or unclear sentences will be pointed out and that when I put Your Book, Your Way into the public sphere, I won't be embarrassed by an overlooked comma or misspelled word or something that makes no sense at all.

I learned to appreciate the importance of editors many years ago when I worked at our local newspaper, the Valley News. In a newspaper, you are always on a deadline and one day, I finished a feature story at the very last minute, hit the button to send it to the editor on duty that day, and was appalled to see the story appear in print with an undeleted sentence fragment right in the middle of it.

Nope, that editor never read what I wrote. And I was embarrassed because I like my stuff to appear in print in a finished state. Given the deadline (I sat right next to this editor while I wrote so he knew I finished that piece at the last minute), I needed to depend on him to read what was destined to appear in ink on paper because I didn't have the time for a final read-through.

The most important task any editor ever accomplishes is not letting a writer go out in public naked.