Last Saturday, March 28, was the second conference of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild. I’d gotten up early, and drove miles to get there by 8 a.m. I was jacked up on Starbucks coffee and wondering if the keynote speaker’s session was really going to be an hour and half long, because, if it was, I was going to need more coffee.
It turned out I didn’t need caffeine. Sheila Bender was about to blow me away with her developmental editing techniques. She took us step by step through her process — a process that respects writers and delivers astounding results.
She read us a couple “before and after” examples from writers she’s worked with. The initial pieces weren’t bad, but the finished works were beautiful — both heartbreaking and humorous. At the end of each I nearly stood and applauded — and it wasn’t the caffeine talking. It was inspirational to see the transformation and to know that an editor can help a writer find that level of writing.
I took careful notes and will try to explain her process the best I can tomorrow. In the meantime, you may want to check out her website, www.writingitreal.com.
di
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