My first editing experience.
After a bit of conversations on Twitter.com with K. M. Weiland I decided to do a post about my editing experience, Publisher will remain anonymous but the editor I worked with was just fantastic: Angela Sasser.

K. M. Weiland's Blog
http://www.wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/

Angela Sasser's Blog.
http://angelicshades.blogspot.com/

At first I was apprehensive, scared and nervous. For starters I am 40 and have read the great master's of the written word, not the new ones but the greats. Angela was 26 when we started. My first thought was that she was too young to work on my epic masterpiece (and yes everything I write is an epic masterpiece, just ask me I'll tell you).
Angela was not what I expected. I had expected great fights and arguments, instead, the only thing I can figure was that she knew I worried about her youth, it was an enlightening experience and the novel changed from epic to even better epic. The first thing Angela did was find out what Science Fiction writers I read and the ones that inspired my Science Fiction. She researched that and made some excellent reading recommendations. Second she wanted to know what kind of music I listen to and suggested I send her my playlist (Oh my stars and garters--I am ex-D.J. I had to make a playlist of my favorite 1000 songs out of literally millions of them. My computer has terabytes of mp3's ripped from the original CD's and LP's). Since I listen to a wide variety of music with the emphasis being on heavy metal she found my playlist intriguing to say the least.
Angela got to know me and my influences before she started on the epic edits. She was a breathe of fresh air. She had a clear and cognitive sense of my superiority complex and super genius IQ, she did a wonderful job avoiding both of those.
At first my story was in present tense, good story wrong tense. Angela pointed out that in the epilogue that the story was a memory and suggested I try to write in the past tense to clarify it. She stated If I didn't like it done that way then we would go back to the present tense. Wow...I can't lose, no harm in trying.

Know what?

The story sounded better and felt better in the past tense and things inside the story made more sense.

Another thing she pointed out was that I grew up old school and read old school where everyone just said everything. She asked me to look up speaking terms and apply them to my characters. I did and found far more creativity in my prose than she said/he said.

It was Angela's way of suggesting things that made that experience great and we are friends because of it, I have a great deal of respect for her. She would suggest things that did not come as an invasion to what I already knew but came as a way to inspire creativity and help push myself to be better.

I learned through this experience that I did not know what I should have. I was unaware that my writing was in a rut and my creativity had not been, well, creative. Still my epic masterpiece is now that. It sounds epic and it feels epic. Now it will be epic.

Angela was one of the reasons I came to get into the social networking systems and I am a much better person because of it. It is so wonderful to read and write and ask question and get answers and find new inspirations almost everyday.

Thanks again Angela.
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My mother had quite the opposite experience with her editor.

First of all my mom is 68 and grew up on a farm. She is a poet and she has done a great many things in her life but her poetry revolves around her roots.

http://janicenchapman.com/

Her first editor did not know the western way of life and really should not have been assigned to her. There are things that we just grow up knowing out here in the wild west. The only thing her editor knew of the western life was from TV and made a comment on one poem that she hadn't seen that episode yet. TV is for entertainment, doesn't show you want the life is actually about. My Mom writes about the everyday stuff we do, such as saddling a horse or playing with a foal. Animals do funny stuff almost everyday and the inspire my Mother to write poetry. One editor she had did not know what a Latigo was and wanted her to change the poem. Matter of fact several poems because they did not know the terminology of horse tack, wagons, cattle, brands and a whole list of others. Out here we grow up on Gene Autry, John Wayne, Lee VanCleef, and a host of others.
My mother had to ask for another editor because she was not about to change her writing and poem because the one she had didn't understand them. Cowboy poetry does require someone that knows a little bit about the cowboy life to be able to edit it.
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Thanks for reading.