Castle Walls Editing

Tag: Editor

  • Editing Is a Conversation

    Editing Is a Conversation

    Too often people view editing as a one-way service in which the editor “corrects” the author’s prose. To get the most out of the author–editor relationship, however, it’s important to remember two things:

    • Editing is a conversation.
    • Edits are suggestions.

    (Though general principles still apply, the following is geared toward the relationship between indie authors and editors. In traditional publishing the author will usually not communicate directly with the copy editor or proofreader.)

    The Conversation: Working Together

    The author and editor are partners working in service of the reader. This relationship is laid out beautifully in one of my favorite books—The Subversive Copy Editor by Carol Fisher Saller. (I will never stop recommending this book!)

    The editor is there to help the author and to honor the author’s voice. As with any good conversation, this means that the editor must practice the art of listening so that they can hear that voice before they can edit effectively.

    Of course, editors also bring expertise that authors may not possess. This expertise includes adherence with style guides and dictionaries, awareness of inclusivity concerns, and knowledge of publishing standards.

    But, again, it’s important to remember that the author’s voice should always be honored, so if maintaining that voice and serving the audience means bending a guideline, then that’s what the editor will do. Style sheets exist in part to record exceptions to style so that they can be applied intelligently and consistently.

    If an author has a style preference, they should let their editor know, and authors should feel empowered to “push back” against their editor. I’ve put that phrase in quotes because, when pushing back, authors will usually be surprised by how little resistance they meet.

    Edits Are Suggestions

    Whether an author is reviewing a tracked change or a comment, the author does not have to accept that change or suggestion. The author is paying the editor for the service, so it’s advisable to consider the editor’s suggestions, but the author always has the power to reject an edit.

    If an author feels as though they’re fighting their editor every step of the way and arguing every change, then that’s probably a good sign either that they’re not ready for editing (which requires an openness to being edited) or that they’re working with the wrong editor.

    If the former, then the author may need to open themselves to being edited and remember that the editor is there to help. It’s easy to be defensive, but too much defensiveness can work against the reader.

    If the latter, then the author may need to rethink the relationship. A great author and great editor may not pair well for any number of reasons, and there’s nothing wrong with amicably parting ways.

    The Conversation

    Perhaps the most effective way to ensure that editing is a helpful conversation is to remember that it is a conversation. As with all conversations, politeness and respectfulness should be maintained at every stage, by both parties.

    Before Editing

    Sometimes an author–editor fit can be determined only by working through an edit, but authors can learn a lot about their editor by reviewing their website, social media posts, and listings in professional organizations.

    A sample edit shows an editor’s editing style (heavy, medium, or light), their ability to use basic markup functions, and their commenting style (a good comment should explain the issue, explain why it’s an issue, and offer a suggestion or resource).

    Email exchanges also indicate an editor’s professionalism, timeliness, and demeanor. Editors are sometimes open to video calls (though, of course, editors are notoriously introverted).

    During Editing

    The editor’s primary means of communication during editing is through tracked changes, comments, and the style sheet.

    While an editor will usually make silent edits to clean up such things as double spaces, spaces around returns, and straight quotes), these silent edits will be listed on the style sheet, and other edits will be tracked for the author’s review.

    This is part of the open conversation so that the author is fully aware of what the editor is doing and there are no surprises.

    Comments are essential for explaining edits, querying such things as continuity issues, and even offering the occasional “Well done!”

    Needless to say, an editor’s comments should never be condescending or mean spirited.

    The style sheet is a separate document that details general guidelines for editing, exceptions to style, a word list of proper nouns and manuscript-specific styles, a character list with character details (helpful to ensure such things as eye color don’t change during the course of the story!), setting details, and a timeline (a big aid for continuity concerns).

    After Editing

    When the editor returns the manuscript and style sheet, they will continue the conversation with an editorial letter (usually an email) covering the work. I’ve also been employing Loom to use video to add a personal touch and demonstrate such things as good practices for reviewing tracked changes.

    The conversation may continue if the editor will also be reconciling edits after the author’s review, and I always make it a point to encourage authors to send me any questions that arise while they’re reviewing the edits.

    The Ongoing Conversation

    It’s a beautiful thing when authors and editors work together to present readers with works that inspire, amaze, and take them to faraway places of wonder. Keep the conversation going, and make it a good one.

  • Four on the Floor with Author J. J. White

    Four on the Floor with Author J. J. White

    [An abbreviated version of this interview ran in my September newsletter.]

    Author J . J. White has been kind enough to credit my editing with helping him land an agent and traditional publisher. Read on to learn more about the author and to see how he responded to the Four on the Floor interview.

    About J. J. White: Award-winning author J. J. White has written 11 novels, including A Promise to Lena, Nisei, and Prodigious Savant, as well as more than 400 short stories. He lives in Merritt Island, Florida, with his wife, Pamela.

    What was it like to move to a traditional publisher? Did this change how you viewed yourself as a writer?

     

    I should explain how to get traditionally published before I write about what the move was like. In good fiction, the narrative follows a story arc. First an event must change the protagonist’s life. Then there’s escalating trouble to keep him or her from their goal, and, finally, you have a satisfactory resolution for the reader.

    For an author to become traditionally published, you have to go through your own real-life story arc. First, you must have an event that starts you writing. In my case, it was a back injury that laid me up for two weeks.

    Then, after you have been writing for a while, you must endure the escalating conflict that tries to keep you from reaching your publishing goal. This includes a mountain of rejection from agents, acquisition editors, publishers, and reviewers.

    Finally, if all the stars align, a traditional publisher agrees to bring you aboard.
    This separates you from the millions of self-published authors and allows your book to be placed in bookstores. You also have less trouble getting media interviews, and the local newspapers and libraries take you more seriously than they do self-published authors.

    The transition from self-published to traditional is a bit disconcerting. Publishers have certain methods and traditions new authors stumble over. I had no idea what a galley was and didn’t understand the relationships between publishers and the big-chain bookstores, but eventually I learned, though it took three books to do so.

    In most cases, the traditional publisher will defray publication costs such as promotion, travel, editing, and advertising. Although they will edit your book, it’s wise to have a polished manuscript to give to your agent.

    “I was fortunate to have three manuscripts edited by Castle Walls Editing, which helped me acquire both an agent and publisher.”

    Being traditionally published changes you personally and professionally. It has given me the confidence to submit both long and short fiction to the publishing world.

    Without that confidence, I would not have continued writing novels and would not have had my short fiction published in the Saturday Evening Post anthology, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine and the St. Martin’ Press novel A Divided Spy. Like my protagonist in my books, I feel I have reached a major portion of my goals.

    What is your day-to-day writing routine?

     

    Writing is a lifetime commitment. Almost every bestselling author will tell you the six most important things to do to be a successful writer are to read, read, read and write, write, write.

    I read every day, whether it’s a book or audiobook. If it’s an audiobook, I try to imagine the words floating around the car in their literary order to see how the author meant to write them. Of course, this distracts me from driving, though I’ve been lucky enough not to have an accident while concentrating on Hemingway’s prose.

    Writing doesn’t take up much of my day. I can live a normal life of working, golfing, surfing, reading, and cooking dinner, and yet still find time to write.

    Normally, after I watch Jeopardy with my wife, I’ll spend two hours writing in my office. I write in longhand, so after I finish a chapter, I hand it over to Pam, who types it up, edits the ridiculous and the unbelievable, and then emails it back to me in my office, which is only two rooms away.

    Usually, I’ll do the first edit on it that night, and then on Tuesdays, when I meet with the other three members of my writing group, we’ll go over it in detail.

    “Two hours of writing a night doesn’t seem like it would add up to much, but after ten years, it has equated to 11 novels and 400 short stories.”

    Which other writers working today do you admire most?

     

    Writing beautifully is important, but if the author doesn’t give me a good story, I’ll put it down. I tend to drift toward genre writers like Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, and Michael Connelly.

    For a literary read, I enjoy Cormac McCarthy and Joseph O’Connor.

    My favorites for historical fiction are Steven Pressfield, Edward Rutherfurd, and Bernard Cornwell.

    I also enjoy the fiction of Laura Lippman and Paula Hawkins, and I try to read a variety of authors to improve my own writing.

    What do you find most valuable about having someone else edit your work?

     

    When I write, I imagine my characters on a stage in front of me acting out their parts. I dutifully jot down what they say and do. Unfortunately, this gets me so close to them I can’t see their flaws. They become my darlings and good authors will tell you, you must kill your darlings.

    “An independent editor can stand back and see the entire picture and kill those darlings without sentimentality, or at least suggest that I kill them.”

    They can also see my obvious punctuation, grammar, and content mistakes. The reason I miss them is because my attention as an author is on the narrative and the style instead of the construction.

    It took me time to figure this out and to accept suggestions about removing anything that doesn’t belong in the story. A good editor equates to a good book and I’m smart enough to know I need a good editor.

    More information about J. J. White can be found at his website.

  • A Walk-Through of the Editing Process at Castle Walls

    The following is a walk-through of the editing process at Castle Walls Editing.

    First, as eager as you are to get your book out into the world, it’s important that you are ready to have your manuscript edited and that you know what kind of editing you need, whether that be developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, or proofreading.

    You don’t want to hire someone to proofread your manuscript, for example, if you still think it needs major restructuring. You can read more about the level of editing you need by clicking here.

    Getting Started

    Let’s say you’re interested in copyediting. To get started, email Castle Walls Editing at James@castlewallsediting.com or use the CONTACT US form on the site.

    The more information I know about your manuscript, the better, so this is where it’s helpful to provide a good description of your manuscript and what you would like to have done.

    I will respond to your email as soon as possible and request any other pertinent information. At this point, I will also ask for a chapter or section of your work so that I can provide an estimate for the project.

    To give you a better idea of the work involved, editors generally edit between six and ten pages an hour, and this number fluctuates based on the kind of editing required and the state of the manuscript.

    The Estimate

    Your most pressing question is probably (and understandably) about the cost of editing.

    Click here for a breakdown of what you are paying for when you hire me to edit your book.

    Page count is important, but page count can vary widely because of font, font size, and line spacing, so I will ask for your word count. I will then divide this number by 250 (the number of words on a standard manuscript page).

    If your manuscript is 75,000 words long, I will base my estimate on 300 pages (75,000 divided by 250).

    In addition to page count, however, the time it takes to edit a manuscript depends on formatting requirements, the state of the manuscript (a manuscript with numerous edits on each page will take longer to edit than one that requires fewer edits), the level of technical detail, and the presence of text features such as footnotes, reference lists, and tables.

    Manuscripts have unique needs, and the best way to determine the time it will take to edit your work is to view a sample of the work before providing an estimate.

    The fee for editing will also cover the creation of a style sheet (click here for more information about style sheets).

    The Deposit and Contract

    If we’ve agreed on the terms of work, then we’re ready to go! I require a third of the payment up front and will email you a contract specifying the exact nature of the work.

    The deposit can be paid by check or through PayPal.

    Submitting Your Manuscript

    Now for the easy part. Email me your manuscript and let me work my magic!

    This is the point at which you want to be absolutely sure you’re ready to have your manuscript edited. Once the file is sent, that’s the file I will work through to completion. It’s extremely difficult for editors to do their job when the author is reworking portions of the manuscript during the process, and the goal for all of us is to end up with the best possible version of your manuscript.

    Editing Your Manuscript

    Unless otherwise specified, I will edit in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition).

    If editing in Microsoft Word, I will turn on Track Changes so you can review the edits. I will specify any invisible edits (edits made with Track Changes off). These include edits made to eliminate extra spaces and spaces around returns.

    I also use the editing suite available from the Editorium as well as PerfectIt software. These programs help me to clean up the document and identify a wide range of consistency issues. As any editor will tell you, the more electronic aids an editor can use, the more that editor is free to concentrate on sentence structure, word usage, readability, and other such matters.

    Macros are another tool I employ while editing. Macros are little programs that run within Word to carry out a variety of functions. One such macro, ProperNounAlyse, pulls all the proper nouns from the manuscript so that you can see, for example, if names are spelled inconsistently. Macros enhance the editing process in innumerable ways.

    When copyediting, I do two passes on the manuscript:

    In the first pass, I pore over the document and address all copyediting concerns for spelling, punctuation, grammar, style, and consistency. My goal is always to maintain the author’s voice while serving both the author and the reader.

    I use Word’s ReadAloud feature for my second pass, which is a cleanup pass of the document. During this pass I look for anything I might have missed, and I fix any issues that may have been inadvertently introduced when making edits.

    (Listening to the manuscript is a fantastic way to catch missing words, transposed words, and wrong words. I highly recommend it as a great way to combat familiarity with the manuscript, which can cause you to see what you think should be there rather than what is actually on the page.)

    Returning the Job

    When I’ve completed work, I will supply you with your manuscript with Track Changes showing (and a separate version with changes accepted, if requested). I also provide the style sheet and an editorial summary with an overview of the edits.

    Billing

    Once you’ve received the completed work, I will invoice you for the remainder of the fee (payable by check or through PayPal).

    Keeping in Touch

    I wish all authors all the success their hard work deserves, so I always look forward to hearing about your manuscript’s journey into the world!

  • The Crossing: Jumping from an In-Office Job to Full-Time Freelancing

    In Michael Connelly’s The Crossing, retired LAPD detective Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch does something he swore he’d never do: He reluctantly agrees to cross over to the defense to help half-brother Mickey “Lincoln Lawyer” Haller clear a client from a murder rap.

    After a career spent putting murderers behind bars, Bosch finds working for the defense to be extremely problematic, even if it requires a similar application of his detective skills. Apprehending criminals is what he does best. That is his mission, and he is nothing if not a man committed to his mission.

    But Bosch also has to accept that this crossing is not without its advantages.

    “For the first time he realized how free he was to follow his instincts and cast his net in whatever direction he wanted.” (from Michael Connelly’s The Crossing)

    In-house editors might feel something similar when contemplating a jump to full-time freelancing, a crossing that could entail pursuing more interesting jobs and clients—a crossing that could also promise a type of freedom unlike anything they’ve ever experienced.

    Why Cross Over?

    Throughout his career as a homicide detective, Bosch had numerous run-ins with his superiors and with those who didn’t share the belief in his mission.

    “With the department he had certainly employed his instincts. But there was always a lieutenant and sometimes a captain to be briefed and an approval needed. There were rules of procedure and rules of evidence. There was a partner and a division of labor. There was a budget and there was the constant, never abating knowledge that every move he made, every word he typed, would be reviewed and possibly turned against  him.” (from Michael Connelly’s The Crossing)

    Escaping office politics is one reason editors might want to embrace freelancing. Editors are often introverts who shy away from socializing, so freelancing would seem to allow them the freedom to do their work with less social interaction.

    And going it on their own works well for many editors.

    The flip side of this, however, is that office camaraderie is not always a bad thing, and some enjoy daily, face-to-face interaction with colleagues. Some even need this interaction for their health and mental well-being.

    Even when working in isolation, though, freelancers can still find avenues for connecting with colleagues, whether that be through social media, industry conventions, or community meetings at libraries and other local institutions.

    The Mission

    Bosch always demonstrates a strong sense of mission. His mother was killed when Bosch was just a boy (a crime Bosch himself solved years after), and Bosch is relentless in the pursuit of murderers. 

    “He remembered a time long before when he had been told his mother was dead and that he was alone in the world.” (from Angels Flight)

    Bosch is driven by the belief that, when it comes to victims, “everybody matters or nobody matters,” and he never wavers from this belief, so no case is too big or too small. (Editors do well to apply this same sense of mission to each and every job.)

    Freelance editors have to be similarly driven. They are required to motivate themselves and organize their own time. Freelancers have to do their own marketing and their own accounting. They have to set aside money for taxes and pay these on a quarterly schedule.

    “I have accomplished everything in my life by channeling negatives into motivation.” (from Michael Connelly’s Angels Flight)

    Many rise to these challenges and even enjoy the administrative side of freelancing (these tasks allow editors to turn off their editorial brains for a bit while still feeling productive), but some simply aren’t suited for this kind of work and need the greater structure that traditional office work provides.

    No Boss, But Many Bosses

    Most editors have never knocked their boss through a sheet of glass, like Bosch did in a memorable confrontation, but even so, the idea of working for yourself appeals to many. Certain personalities feed off the chance to call all of the shots and to succeed or fail entirely on their own efforts.

    As the saying goes, though, if every client is a boss, freelancers can find themselves trading one boss for many.

    Benefits of the Office

    Full-time staffers enjoy a variety of benefits that cannot be discounted: health care, paid vacations, employer contributions to retirement plans, and even (for some) yearly bonuses.

    In addition, offices provide computer equipment, software, and supplies, and some employers will even fund training and cover the costs of conference fees and professional associations.

    On the plus side, freelancers can save on commuting costs and can also enjoy tax breaks for a variety of expenses. Freelancers can also save on clothing costs (the classic image of the freelancer is of someone working in his or her pajamas).

    Schedule

    A 9-to-5 routine allows a certain ease to scheduling and a predictability that many enjoy. The ability to work when and where you want is, however, one of the main draws to freelancing, and any number of life circumstances can make this very appealing indeed.

    Freelancers, on the other hand, might find themselves scrambling for work and taking every job that comes their way. This so-called freedom, then, could seem like anything but if a freelancer is essentially forced to work all the time.

    Finding Clients

    Bosch is not a sit-behind-the-desk type of detective. One of his mantras is “Get off your ass and knock on doors,” which is exactly what freelancers have to do in their search for clients.

    “Sometimes you don’t know what you are looking for until you find it.” (from Michael Connelly’s Suicide Run)

    One of the advantages of being in an office is that the work is essentially given to you, and you don’t have to go out and find clients. But freelancers need to be on the constant lookout for prospective clients, and as such, they are never not working.

    Getting Paid

    In-house staff generally don’t have to worry about their fees. They agree to a yearly salary and the checks come (usually) on a regular basis.

    Freelancers, however, have to first figure out what to charge, which isn’t an easy thing (and freelancers inevitably also face the challenge of raising their rates and successfully communicating these increases to clients).

    The truth about editing is that two seemingly similar jobs could require vastly different time commitments, and an editor won’t be able to gauge the amount of time required for a job until after sampling a chapter or portion of the work, all of which makes setting a fee difficult. A freelancer also has to decide whether to charge by the page or by the hour (something that might scare off clients who would be reassured by a fixed price).

    For assistance in this regard, Rich Adin at An American Editor has published numerous informative posts about setting fees, and freelancers can also find helpful resources at the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA).

    Another question for freelancers is whether to list their rates online or provide individual quotes for each job. As with so many things, there are no wrong or right methods, and one approach might work well for one editor and not for another.

    Security

    An office gig might seem to offer more security, with freelancers often unsure of whether they will have work, or enough work, from month to month, but layoffs are also a reality, and editors working in-house might feel that all their eggs are placed in one basket. They might reasonably feel that if they lose their job, they lose everything, while freelancers have income being channeled through a number of sources.

    The Way Forward

    As Bosch found in The Crossing, some decisions tear at your gut, and a clear path isn’t always easy to discern.

    Having a strong sense of mission, though, can go a long way toward ensuring that whatever choice you make, you’re going to end up doing the work you were meant to be doing.

  • Sorry, Darlings: Depression, Rejection, Revision and Publication

    When I was seventeen, my mother and sister were killed in a car accident. I’ve said this, almost word for word, to many people over the years, and saying it has always been more than a statement of events. It’s always been a self-aware explanation (at least in part) of who I am.

    But even with the impact (crash terms naturally enter my writing when I think about their deaths), I’ve never written explicitly about the accident (or, to me, THE ACCIDENT). That changed, however, with my story “Sorry, Sis” (which has been published over at Liquid Imagination).

    [I break down the story below, so if you’d like to read it without spoilers, now would be a good time.]

    Three Stories, One Ending

    I wrote “Sorry, Sis” nearly a year ago during a period of depression, which I’ve experienced to greater and lesser degrees for most of my life. I cried a lot while writing the story, and it’s as personal a tale as I’ve written. The mixture of sorrow, dark humor, and self-recrimination is very me.

    You might even say those are my calling cards.

    I wrote two other stories during this period. At some point I stepped back and recognized that all three ended with a type of suicide, and I thought (1) ending every story with a suicide would make me a bit of a one-trick pony and (2) I probably needed to stop “winging” my depression and address it seriously.

    I did address it, and I developed what I believe are helpful tools for moving forward. I find myself in a good place, with many wonderful people in my life. Still, I’ve been living in my skin for forty-six years, and I know a lot about myself, and I know depression can descend at any moment, without warning.

    Those tools are going to come in handy.

    Kill Your Darlings

    Most writers have been advised to “kill their darlings,” which, essentially, means that you should edit out writing that is too self-indulgent or is more important to you than to the story itself. As I went through the process of getting “Sorry, Sis” published, I had to take heed of this advice—no easy thing given the emotions invested in the story.

    When I wrote “Sorry, Sis” I employed what I thought was an interesting structure, one that I believed made sense for the story and also kept the reader off-balance.

    I was thinking of the story being published online. Knowing that an online audience can click away from your story at any moment, I thought that I could maintain that audience’s interest by giving readers a number of different looks.

    That was my hope, anyway.

    But hopes, like too many of us, oft die early deaths.

    In my first drafts, the story employed a three-part structure in which the first part, describing a childhood incident, was told in the third person. The second part, in which the main character reveals that he is being haunted by his dead sister, was told in the first person past tense, while the third part, which brings the story to its conclusion, was told in the first person present.

    I also employed lists in the story, and I was, quite frankly, in love with the structure. This is brilliant! I can’t wait for the raves to pour in!

    It turns out that reality is less kind than a writer’s initial impression of his own work.  

    Rejection Can Be a Good Thing

    Six submittals. Six rejections.

    Your stories are going to get rejected for all kinds of reasons. That’s part of the process, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to revise your story with each rejection.

    But it does provide you with an opportunity to revisit your work and to take a hard look at what’s working and what’s not.

    I’d already made some substantial revisions even before sending it out. In the earliest version, the character had lost both his mother and sister to a car accident. While that was true in my life, it was too much for the story to bear.

    So my mother was expelled from the tale.

    Sorry, Mom.

    The more substantial structural revisions came after comments from one of the editors who rejected the work. (While having your story accepted for publication is the ultimate goal, receiving helpful comments is a pretty damn good thing too.)

    The editor’s critique made me realize something I already knew: the first person voice was, by far, the strongest part of the story.

    So I also jettisoned the opening third person passage, and the story was immediately stronger for it.

    A common criticism of fledgling (and not-so-fledgling) writers is that they don’t know where to begin their stories. An editor might look at a story and determine that the real beginning is actually three pages in.

    That was certainly the case here.

    When you’ve put your heart into your work, it isn’t easy to step back, approach it again, tear it apart, and reassemble it. But that’s art, and you have to be merciless.

    Kill your darlings.

    All’s Well That Ends Well

    So the story was published, and in the introduction to the issue editor Edwin Riddell called it “a creepy cracker if ever there was one, with some great writing, searing truth, and insight into little-explored aspects of the duality of our motives and actions.”

    Kind words.

    Words that made me proud and made me happy I wasn’t too proud to heed a professional’s advice and kill my story for the sake of my story.

    I hope my mother and sister would have been proud as well.

    [twitter-follow screen_name=’CastleWallsEdit’]

  • Editing Is A Lot Like Shaving…

    Editing Is A Lot Like Shaving…

    [Please note that I am not a shaving professional and cannot be held responsible for any injuries that occur while shaving. The following is for entertainment purposes only.]

    The badger-hair shaving brush I received for my last birthday (Thanks, G!) posed a challenge. I’d seen old-fashioned shaves in the movies, but, looking at the brush, I have to admit I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about the process.

    Not to mention that I felt some apprehension over possibly leaving my face and neck looking like something out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

    But intrigue far outweighed fear. Shaving with what are generally considered antiquated—even dangerous—implements would be undeniably cool (dare I say, manly?), shimmering with the same mystique as an absinthe fountain or manual typewriter.

    I vowed to do it, nicks and cuts be damned!

    The Tools

    An editor can’t edit without the proper tools, and these days that means a decent computer, a monitor (or two or three), a high-speed internet connection, software (Word, PerfectIt, etc.), dictionaries, and style manuals, for starters.

    For my shave, I quickly realized I needed to further bolster my shaving arsenal. I was simply not going to use one of the modern five-blade razors with my cool new brush. Not being foolhardy—or perhaps manly—enough to wield a straight razor, I purchased a safety razor, and I assure you, turning the handle and butterflying the top open, then laying a bare blade within, felt plenty dangerous enough for me. Plus, the damn thing looks extremely cool hanging on the stand next to my brush.

    Along with the razor I also bought shaving soap, a stainless steel bowl for working the soap into a lather, and some shaving oil and moisturizer.

    I was ready to begin.

    Prework

    Editors don’t just sit down with a document and begin editing. An editor will resave the document with a new name, create a style sheet, perform basic cleanup on the document, and run macros and a variety of programs.

    Much the same with shaving.

    First, I place the brush in the stainless steel bowl and fill the bowl with warm water to soak the bristles for a few minutes. I then take this time to wash my face with my energizing face wash (Thanks again, G!).

    At this stage I apply shaving oil and, pouring a tablespoon onto the shaving soap, dump all but a tablespoon or so of water from the bowl. Then I shake out the brush and swirl it over the soap.

    Now for my favorite part!

    With soap adhering to the bristles of the brush, I whisk the brush in the bowl to combine it with that little bit of water to create a nice lather. This takes time, and I find that the action of the brush and lather in the bowl centers my thoughts and relaxes me. It helps ready me for the day, and it reminds me a bit of making a roux for gumbo, where the oil and flour gradually assume that perfect peanut-butter color.

    My mind clears, and when there are no more bubbles in the lather, I’m getting close.

    After the lather is perfect, I apply it to my face, and I really go after it, working the bristles vigorously. The whole point is to raise my whiskers and ready them for the blade, but a pleasant side effect is that the bristles feel wonderful.

    The Work

    These days, editors have quite a few tools that make editing easier, but at editing’s heart there is always an editor working the text, poring diligently letter by letter over a document. This is where the real work is done, where an editor’s attention to detail and ability to concentrate for extended periods of time come into play.

    This is the stage where the editor’s training and experience and knowledge really pay off.

    If a mistake at this stage can leave glaring errors in a document, a mistake at the same point while shaving can result in the aforementioned nicks and cuts. But do it correctly and you’re left with smooth skin that you, or your loved one, can’t resist touching (or, for that matter, a clean, error-free document that invites reading).

    But let’s make no mistake, shaving with a safety razor is not for the fainthearted.

    Even secured in the casing, the blade is lethal, so you can’t shave quickly and recklessly, as you might with a more modern blade (no need to even reassert the editing metaphor here). With a safety razor, the weight of the handle itself is enough, so you let gravity do the work, bringing the blade down, always down, a half inch or so at a time, over and over.

    I’ll admit that my first couple shaves with the safety razor could easily have put one in mind of The Wild Bunch, but I learned. Slow and extreme care can literally save your neck (or, when editing, your client’s).

    Cleanup

    Once a job is complete, an editor can wrap up the work, which of course entails returning the document to the client and, presumably, getting paid in the not-too-distant future. With shaving, this is the point where a hot towel (or cold, as some prefer) would really come in handy, but I haven’t incorporated that into the process. Maybe someday.

    Until then, I’m going to enjoy the slow pleasures of a good shave—and I’m going to try to always bring the same level of extreme care to my work.