Good Thing She Didn't Hate It

I've just completed revising the manuscript for my novel, Bill Warrington's Last Chance, based on line-by-line edits suggested by my peerless editor, Liz Van Hoose of Viking/Penguin.

During the process, Liz kept telling me how much she "loved" the work I'd done.

Really?

See all the pretty green on the page to the left? That's an actual page from the manuscript, with Liz's line edits. My manuscript is 300 pages. This is one of the reasons I haven't posted for two weeks.

Fortunately, not every page was this, um, busy. But every page was proof that every writer needs an editor. I lucked out with mine.

Here's Why

A lot of people ask me why there's a year's gap between acceptance of a book and the actual release of said book. My strategy is to mumble something about marketing and strategy, and hope to hell there are no follow-up questions. But thanks to this, all is revealed.