An editor texted this photo last week with this note: “Working hard, but John just announced cocktail hour!”
The client has been working with his editor on his self-published autobiography for nearly a year, and he flew her to Florida to finish his manuscript. Her text made me smile. Not everyone has the budget to fly their editors to them, but it illustrates two universal things:
- The author/editor relationship is important. Writing is a vulnerable thing, and sharing your writing with another person can be an intimate process. It takes mutual trust, respect, and patience. (You can read more about this in another post, “The dirty little secret about hiring an editor”).
- The milestones are important. I love that they marked months of writing and editing with a special visit and celebratory drinks. There is still much to do: we’ll format, design, market, print, and distribute. But when it’s all over, so many of my clients tell me that they miss it. They miss the daily calls and shared joy. So let’s celebrate the good relationships and small accomplishments along the way to our big goals.
Cheers!
