The Joy of a Good Edit

Yesterday, I received my edits of “The Man in the Mirror” from QueeredFiction. I was a bit nervous to open the document. Although I’ve been heavily edited when I’ve written something “on-the-job,” this is the first time my fiction has been edited for publication.

But as someone who spends a lot of time in the editors’ seat, I should have reminded myself that, “The editor is your friend.” I was pleased with the edit of “The Man in the Mirror.” It definitely made the story stronger and tighter. It was edited enough that I knew the editor took his job seriously, but not so much that I felt like what I’d produced originally was just a stinking pile of you-know-what. Interestingly, his main edit was to drastically cut down a section I had already drastically cut down from earlier drafts. It just goes to show how valuable a fresh set of eyes is, and also reassured me that I was on the right track with my revisions, even if I didn’t take them as far as I should have.

Along with implementing the edits, I was charged with writing a 30-word blurb for the piece. I’m pretty sure writing the blurb is harder than writing the story itself. After about seven attempts, here’s what I finally came up with:

In a world of declining male birthrates, Gina moves to a polygamy-practicing Ranch searching for love. When Gina’s marriage fails, her best friend Andi takes drastic steps to make sure Gina’s dreams of love still come true.

Also, my newest post on Young Adult Catholics went up yesterday.