The truth about evil editors

I’ve noticed that when I talk about writing with people who aren’t writers, many ask about the role of editors in the book-making process.

“Doesn’t it upset you when an editor wants you to change something in your book?”

Sometimes, when I say no, people say, “Hmph.”  Like I’m lying, afraid the evil editors will find out if I tell the truth.  I think they’re picturing editors as power-hungry monsters, waiting for unsuspecting manuscripts with red eyes and red pens.  But I haven’t met any editors like that.

This weekend, I’ve been revising two picture books with feedback from two really smart editors.  One is my picture book that’s under contract with Chronicle, OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW.  The other is a new book that’s out on submission now, and an editor has suggested some revisions so she can decide if she’d like to move forward with it.

In both cases, I’ve been amazed at the depth of the feedback in those editorial letters – feedback designed to strengthen the heart of the story rather than change it.  This weekend, I’ll be:

  • Cutting bits of dialogue – and a handful of proposed spreads – that aren’t absolutely essential to the heart of the story.
  • Streamlining a plot so it doesn’t meander.
  • Adding more evocative, sensory language to one particularly vivid scene.
  • Switching two spreads to better foreshadow a coming event.
  • Researching some more to add new details.
  • Changing an ending to make it more organic to the story.
  • Looking for a new title. (It probably seems like I’m always looking for a new title, but that’s a post for another day.)

Interestingly enough, both editors appreciated connections in the text that I made subconsciously while writing but hadn’t thought to develop . I love it when that happens, and I’ll be building on those connections, too. 

So does it upset me when an editor wants to change something in my book?

Nope. It thrills me that someone cares about it enough to want to make it stronger. And while a book may start out as mine, by the time it’s been helped along the way by a village of loving literary aunts and uncles like writer friends and agents and editors, it’s not just my book any more.  It’s our book.

The editors I’ve been fortunate enough to work with don’t have red eyes, and they use email attachments more often than red pens.  They don’t say, “What you’ve done here is all wrong.”  They say, “Look what you’ve done here that’s so right.  Build upon it.  Finish it.  Make it shine.”

Sneak Peek and a Chance to Win!

If you’re like me, you’re already having 2009 book thoughts…and wishing some of the books scheduled for this year would hurry up and release already!  Personally, I’m jealous of anyone who snagged an ARC of Wintergirls, though I’ve been lucky enough to do some early reading of my own…particularly when it comes to my fellow 2009 debut authors…THE DEBS!

If you’d like to learn more about what’s on the way for 2009, become a watcher of the LJ Community debut2009 . The best part? Besides learning about great new books way in advance, you can enter to win fabulous, fun prizes during the 12 Months of Debsness!

Find Out What's In The Bag And Win It Today

And hurry…the deadline to enter for the first month is midnight tonight!

(Pssst….The contents of the cool, orange goody bag are top secret, but I’ll give you a tiny hint. Among other things, there is chocolate involved!)

Are you cold yet?

If you’re not in the part of the world facing sub-zero temperatures this week, here’s a Lake Champlain sunrise to get  you into the spirit.

The thermometer reads -12 this morning, and the snow is squeaky.  It’s…well…a bit painful to be outside, but there is something about the extreme cold that produces extreme beauty, too.  For that, for hot chocolate, and for thick socks, I’m thankful.

Chilly Wish Granted

This is what Lake Champlain looked like this afternoon…

Okay, in truth, I’m cheating a tiny bit because this photo wasn’t taken at my house; I snapped it on a cross-country ski trip to Point au Roche State Park, where the bays freeze a bit more quickly than the broad lake.  E and I had a deal…we’d go out as soon as it warmed up to 15 degrees.  Once that happened and the sun came out, it was gorgeous.

The ultra-cold temperatures combined with afternoon sunlight made the new snow absolutely sparkle.  I’m pretty sure this photo doesn’t do it justice, but it truly looked like someone had sprinkled glitter all over the fields.

This is also perfect weather for my current revision project.  I just got the editorial letter for my picture book, OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW (Chronicle Books),  about a child who goes on a cross-country ski trip and discovers the secret world of animals living under the snow.  I asked my editor if she did that on purpose…sent the letter at the height of the outdoor winter sports season.  She says it was just a happy coincidence, but either way, I couldn’t ask for better inspiration.

Think Cold!

That, my friends, is a full moon reflecting on clear, cold Lake Champlain ice.  It’s frozen from my house all the way to the island, frozen in that perfectly clear, smooth, ice-skating sort of way. 

We haven’t been able to skate on the lake for at least three winters because the ice has to be thick enough to be safe and free of big bumps and chunks.  But temperatures tonight are expected to drop near zero again.  Think cold thoughts with me, okay?  If we have a few more frigid nights without wind, there just might be some skating soon.

Links for a snowy day…

The snow is falling outside my office window, my HOME office window, since there’s no school today because of the storm. That means a day of reading and soup and a fire in the fireplace…and time to share some links that I’ve been meaning to share.


First of all, if you’re an author or illustrator, there’s still time to sign up for KidsHeartAuthors Day, the brainchild of author Mitali Perkins, who decided that Valentine’s Day 2009 would be a great opportunity for us all to show our love for independent booksellers. Click here to sign up if you’re an author/illustrator type…or here to sign up as a bookseller. If you’re a teacher or librarian or parent or kid or other fabulous reader, I hope you’ll join us at a signing at your local indie on February 14th!

Now that 2009 is here, those of us with debut books coming out are turning cartwheels.  My editor for THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z (Walker, September 2009) emailed last night with a list of queries from the production editor that made my heart flutter — not because they were difficult to address but because the book is so far along in the whole process.  2009 is actually HERE! 

There are some great places online where you can learn about all the amazing titles that are on the way.  Check out AuthorsNow for a huge listing of 2009 debuts.  And have you met the 2009 Debutantes yet?  Become a watcher of the LJ community debut2009  for terrific book talk with 2009 debut authors and great giveaways, too!  Wouldn’t you like to win one of these nifty goody bags, for example?

The 12 Months of Debsness Giveaway is Coming!

Here’s another great opportunity for teachers & school librarians. Author Fran Cannon Slayton is giving away a set of 30 Advance Reader Copies of her book WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS, which is historical and funny and full-of-heart and wonderful. Just sign up for her email list to be entered in the drawing.

One last link…kellyrfineman is hosting a great conversation about happy endings on her blog today. It resonated with me because I was thinking about this recently, when I was in the middle of a book and SO hoping it would end well without being too sappy. I’m also revising a novel that has a mixed-emotions sort of ending right now. Endings have been on my mind, and Kelly, as usual, has pulled together some thought-provoking ideas from the great authors who joined her in the conversation.

I’m off to make a cup of green tea and then get back to reading with E by the fireplace…one of lurban ‘s recommendations…

We’re thankful to Linda – and to Emily Jenkins for writing such a perfect snow-day read-aloud.  What are you reading today?

Going Where the Snow Is

On Sunday, the last day of a delightfully quiet winter break, I desperately wanted to go cross-country skiing.  Thanks to some December rain, my yard is more grass than snow now, but an hour’s drive into the mountains solved that problem.

I kept an eye out for wildlife, but the best I could do were a few sets of snowshoe hare tracks leading into the trees.

Beech trees in winter always make me smile.  They’re the last trees in the forest to give up their leaves, and to me, they always look like they forgot to change their clothes with the season.

Back at school today, I watched the clouds thicken outside the hallway windows.  There’s a storm on the way, with another 6-12 inches of snow expected tomorrow.  I know where I’ll be this weekend…

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET


They say that whatever you do on the first day of the New Year tells how you’ll spend your time that year.  I’m so hoping this is true for books, too, because the first book I read in 2009 was one of my favorites in a long, long time.

I’ll apologize in advance for teasing – it’s not out until late January – but I simply can’t wait that long to talk about HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford.  I’d read a mention of it months ago on PubRants, the blog kept by Jamie’s agent Kristin Nelson.  I was excited to read this one because I knew it was set in Seattle during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and that’s a time period that has always interested me. I expected an interesting trip through history, but what I got was so, so much more than that.

Henry Lee is still mourning the death of his wife when he learns that the belongings of Japanese Americans hidden in the basement of Seattle’s Panama Hotel for decades have been discovered. Henry is drawn to the basement, and what he’s searching for there opens a door he thought he had closed forever. The story switches back and forth between 1986 and the 1940s, when a 12-year-old Henry attending an American school (he’s "scholarshipping" as his father likes to say) meets another international student working in the school kitchen. Keiko is Japanese American, the enemy according to Henry’s father, but the two become best friends before her family is imprisoned in one of the relocation camps.

This book does a phenomenal job exploring the history and attitudes of this time period, and Ford’s portrayal of Seattle’s ethnic neighborhoods is amazing. But really, the thing that pulled me into this novel the most was the richness of the relationships — Henry and Keiko, Henry and his father, Henry’s mother and his father, and Henry and his own son. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET looks at the best and worst of human relationships, the way we regard others, the way we find ourselves reenacting our relationships with our parents with our own children, the choices we make along the way. Mostly, though, this book reminds us that there is always room — and time — for forgiveness and redemption.

I finished this book in tears, moved by the people who came to life so vividly in the story and sad that it had to end at all. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET is a perfect, perfect choice for book clubs or for anyone craving a compelling story about human nature at its worst and at its best. An amazing, amazing book. It will be one of your favorites, too, I can almost promise.

Instead of Blogging…

I’ve spent the past week and a half:

  • wrapping and unwrapping gifts.
  • baking and eating cookies.
  • playing Monopoly, Apples to Apples, CatchPhrase, and a strangely addictive Nerf target shooting game.
  • ice skating.
  • visiting with my parents, who made our whole Christmas by coming to visit.
  • getting ready for my husband’s family, a great number of whom will arrive to ring in the New Year with us in festive, noisy fashion tomorrow.
  • reading grownup books (I just got an ARC of Jamie Ford’s HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, and it’s delicious so far.)
  • reading kids’ books (E and I are in the middle of THE MAGIC HALF by Annie Barrows and loving it.)
  • hanging out on the sun porch, which is a treat because we don’t always keep it heated in the winter time and because it has this view on winter mornings before anyone else is awake.

  • And writing!  The sun porch has been my office this week. I finally finished my new MG novel, SUGAR ON SNOW.  Those of you who took part in JoNoWriMo might remember that I meant to have the draft done by November 30th.  Then I meant to have it done by December 23rd.  Instead, I wrote the last chapter just after midnight on December 27th.  But it’s done before 2009, and that makes me very happy.  Anyone want to join me in a January Revision Club?

I hope your holiday season has been wonderful and fun and restful.   Happy New Year!  And may 2009 be the year all of your wishes come true.