Editors Are People Too!

It never ceases to amaze me at a writer's conference when someone will come up and tell me how they have followed my career and are in awe of finally getting to meet me. Gee, I'm not Emma Thompson or Faith Hill or even Laura Bush. I'm just an average person who struggles to keep my house clean and those extra fluctuating pounds off. I can't even write this without spell checker. But I admit I can still get a little star struck when I meet an author like Francine Rivers or Liz Curtis Higgs whose skills I've really admired. I get tongue tied with the rest of you. I just feel so blessed that God plopped me down into a job that allows me to do the things I love and meet like-minded people around the country -- actually, all around the world.

Really, He did just plop me here 13 years ago. I had moved home from a Florida college with a degree but no job. There was this catalog company that sold Christian books, and I got hired for the Christmas season, taking phone orders. Three months later I learned the company had a publishing division that did some devotionals and a few romance books. They needed a new assistant to the only editor, and because my boss saw a good fit with my college training, he recommended me. Today that catalog no longer exists, the old boss is VP of Sales (Awarded because he did so well picking me. RIGHT?), and the editorial team has grown from 2 to 8. I started doing typesetting as well as acquisitions, but now we have a graphic team for that too.

This fiction editor trio hopes our blog will give you a peek into the human side of editors. Thankfully, Susan, JoAnne, and I share a lot in common -- like coffee and chocolate and books. Still the old saying about 3 different editors having 3 different opinions on how to edit a book is so true. We about never decided on a name for our blog and wording for our tag line. But being senior editor with final say does have its perks some days.