Commas are my Kryptonite,” I said to my friend Gina one day. She laughed because she understood what that meant. She is of the thinking you can’t have to many as she places commas in excessive even when there is no need for them to be there. I am of the theory in the less the better, often leaving out spots where I should place a comma
I hate commas. They serve their purpose, one of which is to irritate me when I don’t get it right in placement. But that is why I have an editor. She is worth her weight in gold and then some. Which is awesome for me , the commaless person who couldn’t be bothered to learn where to put them.
What else is my Kryptonite now that I am thinking on it? I have issues with a-than vs then b-to vs too and c- effect vs affect.
Though in fairness to me I am getting better with the two first ones. See even I can learn. I am sure there are others that I am just not thinking off at the moment. Writing. Thanks to my editor, I can stick to writing.
I know there are tons and tons of links about why authors need to get an editor. Today’s post is why I need one. I am fortunate to have an amazing woman as my editor. She works tirelessly fixing my bunch of words to where they sparkle. I will be perfectly honest. I am not a fan of commas. I don’t know where to put them with accuracy. I wrote once on my FB something along the line to how I was sure glad as punch that she knew where they went for I sure as hell did not. I don’t. Something so simple but if you do it wrong it will completely mess up a paragraph, page and eventually a chapter if you make enough mistakes.
I am not always sure when to make a chapter break. I get these right a good portion of the time but not always. Nancy will swoop in and leave in the margins where one should be and I am grateful for that. There has been times I have not made any chapters at all. A great example of this was NaNoWriMo 2012 where I have 60k plus works but no chapters. I did separate them so it did not look like a hot mess. The sad part is I am still adding to this story I fear what it will look like when I am finally done and have to hand it over to her. I will do my best to separate it where it should be. I had gotten so wrapped up in this story, I wrote the required 50k words in two weeks. I just wrote and wrote not caring about editing but about the words.
Nancy has spoiled me plan and simple. She lets me be an author without worrying about edits as I am writing down the latest story or MS. Knowing that about her I can be free and just work on my craft. I know a lot of editors heck majority of editors would probably kick me to the curb and say I need to find someone else. At which point I would have to man up and do a better job.
She has polished my query letter and my MS so well that publishing houses even in the rejection letters are saying how polish my work is in content, yeah me, and in edit which is yeah Nancy. We make a good team. She allows me to write without worry about what I am going to do after. I am so grateful for her. I hope my fellow writers have a great person in their corner. It truly makes a huge difference in where I started to where I am at now.
The Musings of A New Englander
Sharon C. Williams-Author 