I Needed All the Help I Could Get – And I Got It

My friend Amy and I spent the brunt of last summer in coffee shops. She to work on her MFA, me to drink a lot of coffee and pretend to write so I could finish up that book I’d been working on for years. I counted on her a great deal to be inspirational in her hard work; if she was working, then I would work, too. She was there for me. We bonded over our suffering. We drank coffee till it came out of our ears. Then, in the midst of all this, she went to FRANCE without me!

Here’s a picture of her, cruising down the Seine on her way to Monet’s Garden.

Then after that, she’s probably going to eat some French Onion Soup, or perhaps have some quiche and a glass of wine, and then take a quiet stroll down some French lane with a crispy baguette under her arm.

Look! Here is a French lane!

Look! Here are some French baguettes that Amy ate without me!

And never mind that Amy eats gluten free! She is my burden to bear

Anyway, Amy went off to France, and though she’d been giving me tons of feedback, and advice, and was a great sounding board for my book Fagin’s Boy (for example, the expansion of the red scarf trope was her idea), as well as being very detail oriented, she was off having fun, and I needed an editor. Someone who would comb through the book correcting my spelling, finding all those comma errors, and who would check to make sure that the spelling of all my character’s names was consistent. As well as a host of other things that editors do to help make your book better.

Enter my desperation. I wrote all the peeps I had met at the Historical Novel Society Conference in 2013, and asked for their suggestions. I think at least two pointed me in the direction of Jenny Q at Historical Editorial. I had also come across her by entering the words “historical” and “editor” in my Google search.

And boy, did I get lucky. Not only is Jenny Q an editor of good and steadfast repute (as an editor must be) but she also designs covers for historical novels. I mean, can it get any more serendipitous than that? If I could sign her up, then not only would she be my saving grace (because she wouldn’t sojourn off to FRANCE in the middle of everything), but also, having read the book to edit it, she would be very familiar with the contents and the tone of the story in order to better create a cover.

Working with her was easy. The rate was reasonable. And the editing? Was terrific. It was a pleasure to get her feedback, and to feel that the book would be better because of her. And while the editing itself was a slog, working with Jenny Q was anything but. Plus, working on the cover together made me feel as giddy as a kid about to get a nice big cone of blue cotton candy.

Here is the cover. Isn’t it lovely?

So my heartfelt thanks to Jenny Q – and Jack sends a big kiss, though, as Jenny Q knows, Oliver doesn’t like kissing people he doesn’t know very well, so no kisses from him. (Although, really, he should be comfortable with Jenny by this time!)

P.S. Amy is now back from France and is busy making ceramic things of beautiful design and fantastic colors. She is still my burden to bear, thank goodness.