PARTNERS IN CRIME

The other day I was saying to my critique partner, Donna, “It seems I have 20/20 vision when I’m editing and I’m legally blind when I’m writing.” So true! When I’m writing I often feel like I’m stumbling around without my glasses on and can’t see more than two feet in front of me. When I’m editing someone else’s manuscript, I see every problem and plot hole with great clarity. This is why we writers need editors! We’re hopelessly lost otherwise.

The trick is finding the right editor.

I’m fortunate to have worked with many good editors over the course of my career. I haven’t always agreed with their comments, but even when I disagree, I know something isn’t working in my manuscript. If a character’s motivation or a plot twist doesn’t make sense to the reader, it doesn’t matter what I was thinking when I wrote it. I know I have to fix it. Usually I come up with a fix that neither my editor nor I would have thought of if we hadn’t put our heads together.

Some years ago when an author with whom I was acquainted told me she was looking for a new critique partner, I leapt on it. Shazam! A partnership was formed. Donna Ball is a seasoned writer like me with many published novels to her credit. If you haven’t read any of the books in either her Raine Stockton and Flash mystery series, you’re missing out. Read one and I dare you not to become hooked!

In the years since, our partnership has flourished. We work together on plot development for books yet to be written. We read each other’s manuscripts and spot plot holes and flaws in character development that need fixing. We’re each other’s buffers against negative comments posted online by potential dissatisfied readers. We’re also admirers of each other’s writing, which makes critiquing each other’s works-in-progress easy and fun. My biggest problem with editing Donna’s work is that it needs so little editing! I’m in awe of her ability to pretty much nail it with every draft.

The icing on the cake is that we’ve become friends. I’ve visited her at her home in the Smoky Mountains of Georgia. Oh, and as an added bonus, she has dogs. Both her mystery series feature dogs, so it’s no surprise she owns several. Ocean, Diamond, and Maverick. A collie, an English Cream golden retriever, and a border collie. All of them adorable and friendly. A visit with Donna isn’t complete without me returning with my clothes covered in dog hair!

The rewards of our partnership are contained in Donna’s statement, “Aren’t we lucky to have found each other?” Amen to that.