I knew a rewrite request was coming. After
all, I didn’t expect them to tell me that it was perfect as is. When my editor
e-mailed me Friday afternoon and asked to have it back by Tuesday, I noodled it
over for a minute. Maybe just maybe I could have it done by Tuesday if the
changes weren’t too bad.
Of course, my aunt was in town and coming
over for dinner Friday night. I still
needed to finish cleaning the house (translation: excavating the dining room
table) and cook dinner.
And this was Halloween weekend. That meant that I’d have 14 extra teenagers
in the house for almost 14 hours on Saturday.
It’s a Halloween tradition. It just wasn’t going to be possible so I
told my editor No.
Hey, you! In Detroit. Quit shuddering. I saw
that. It is perfectly legitimate to tell your editor no. After all, they are
asking for the rewrite because they want your book to be the best that it can
be. That’s why they want the changes and they want the changes to be good. More
often than not, that means not writing with fourteen extra teenagers.
But I didn’t just say No. I briefly explained
the problem. I also proposed a different deadline – Thursday – and told him
that I’d turn it in before Thursday if possible. I hope to send it to him
today.
Not surprisingly, because he does want a top
notch book, he agreed. But I don’t think that is the only reason he said yes. In
fact, I think these three reasons also played a part:
1. I make my deadlines. It’s one of those things
I’m pretty rigid about.
2. I try to give my editor what he wants the
first time around. If I goof up, I admit
it. One of the resources I used in writing this book was a federal government website. One of the pages included a typo. Because of said typo, I got something wrong
and only realized it later on the day that I submit the finished manuscript. I
quickly e-mailed my editor and apologized than I offered to fix the mistake and
resend the file. Because he has already
started editing, he made the change himself but I did offer. After all, I’d rather fix my own mistakes
than have the copy editor catch them.
3. I only say no when it is essential. Out of 10
books, with 3 deadlines per book, I’ve only suggested an alternate deadline 3
times.
Because of these things, when my editor asks
for the impossible, I can say No. After all, he knows that, like him, I want to
produce the best possible manuscript. We’re
a team that way.
--SueBE
To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey.
She also teaches our class, Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins December 5, 2016.
She also teaches our class, Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins December 5, 2016.
