My Editor Needs Help

Rebecca Thesman



A writer's relationship with an editor is sacred. A professionally published book should be edited before it hits bookshelves and, without the editor, a writer's work is not finished. At least, that was my experience with Lip Reader.

Rebecca Thesman is more than an editor; she is my friend, mentor and prayer partner. She is also the mother of a son who has been battling cancer for the past three years.

Last Christmas, Rebecca was laid off from her full-time job and is now strictly freelance. Without insurance for herself and her son Caleb (she is a single mom; he is in cancer remission), this has been an uncertain time for her. I know Rebecca appreciates all of our prayers.

A group of us is organizing a fundraiser to help with the Thesman family and Caleb's medical fund. Carnival for Caleb will be held Saturday, August 21 in Olathe, Kansas, and I invite all of the readers of my blog to attend. There will be carnival activities for kids and shopping, book signings, and storytelling presentations for everyone. Whether or not you live in the Kansas City area, there are many ways you can help. Sponsors, volunteers, prize donations and, of course, everyone's prayers are needed.

Visit the Carnival for Caleb Web site to find out how you can help my editor and her son.


Rebecca and her son, Caleb


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An Update on the Lip Reader Sequel

Rebecca Thesman and I worked together on Lip Reader for several months, and she is now giving up a small part of her life to help me polish the in-progress sequel book, Take Care of the Birds.

When I e-mailed her the first chapter of the sequel book, I was nervous:

Me: "It might help to read the last chapter of Lip Reader again, since the new chapter picks up exactly where the storyline left off. What I am looking for in this edit is a way to flesh out the plot, dialogue and description. It reads too fast and sketchy. Also, could you please use the Track Edit Changes feature in Word? Thanks so much."

I received her comments and edit changes:

Rebecca: "I've used the track changes as you suggested. I purposely didn't go back and read Lip Reader, because a sequel needs to stand on its own as well as having back story for readers who didn't get the 1st book. You did a great job of back story at the bottom of page 6. Lots of action in this chapter and a great lead. One suggestion throughout: since you have so many characters whose dialect will be dropping the 'g,' you might do a Control Find for 'ing' at the end of each chapter. That way, you could automatically change those verbs and gerunds."

Rebecca and I belong to the same writing group and attend church together. I've attended book signings with her and listened to her fantastic workshops on prayer.

For those of you who have ever worked with an editor, it is like a dance. The writer writes, the editor edits. Back and forth. Two steps this way, two steps that way. Without my editor, I can't dance and my book stays on the computer, unpublished.

Thanks for the dance, Rebecca.

Be sure to visit my editor's Web site, Staying In Hope, designed to provide encouragement for people facing difficult times.