Hope in the Heartland
The editor
Gracepoint Church, Peabody
One of the most crucial parts of the writing process is EDITING. It cleans and sharpens a story. And a gifted editor is an author’s best friend. In a meeting I attended recently, award-winning Christian author Rene Gutteridge said she calls her editor her “rockstar.” She also said that her agent and her editors both work together to make her books a lot better. Editors see things that the general public never does … thankfully.
There are times I’ve reread something I’ve written and caught a mistake that weakened the story or otherwise lowered the quality of the writing. Getting a fresh — objective — pair of eyes to read the manuscript or article is essential. I’m glad there are many opportunities for editing to take place in the task of writing. I’ve even hired a freelance editor on occasion.
But don’t you wish we could have an editor sitting on the tip of our tongues? They could inspect every word that was about to come out of our mouths and say, “This doesn’t work.” Or, “Do you really mean that?” Or, “Try again.”
Spoken words, like written words, can be powerful tools … or harmful weapons. Choose wisely.