SimpleMarkup #162 – Developmental Costume

Gleep! Yesterday was crazy busy for me, so I just didn’t have time to make and post this. Today is another crazy busy day, but I couldn’t put this off another day. And I still have the October Book Lovers Box to finish too. I really need more hours in a day!

Most of my editing work is in line editing, but I took a quick look at my ginormous Excel tracking sheet, and I’ve done 33 developmental edits since I started Pikko’s House. Almost all of these involved writing extremely tough editorial letters, and in all of those tough ones, I really did feel like I was delivering nothing but gloom and criticism. It’s why I’m really just not a huge fan of doing developmental edits, and every time I finish one, I have to ask myself whether I want to keep doing it.

But usually whenever I’m questioning this, someone who was revising after a dev will come back with their manuscript, wanting to book line editing, and in the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen some incredible writer transformations. That usually restores my faith in the service, and some of my confidence in my ability to help.

I’ve gotta dive back into my editing cave, but I hope you’re safe and healthy!

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