My Post-

My Post-it Notes

Imagine my shock when I received the first edited copy of The Haunted Igloo from my publisher and saw a thick fringe of yellow notes protruding along the right edge of the stack of pages. To my dismay, these proved to be "Post-it " notes with editorial comments and suggestions on nearly every page. My heart fell. These were my beautiful manuscript pages that I had worked so hard to perfect! This was the novel my editor had assured me was in excellent condition and would not require much editing. I had no idea where to begin, and I just knew I couldn't make those corrections! There was a lot of rewriting and editing ahead of me, and I chose to do the easy ones first, then return to the more difficult ones.

Below are some of the many comments from those notes, and I repeated the process a few more times, with the copy editor and with deadlines. In the long run, the revisions turned out much easier than I had expected, and in the process the lessons permanently imbedded themselves in my mind. What a wonderful learning experience, a course taught by the editors themselves.

This whole scene in which Parry* is in the igloo is handled wonderfully. We feel his fear. Nicely done.

Even though he has no friends, even though he thinks he's small, thin, & crippled? What makes him so happy? Tell readers or delete?

Clarify so readers don't think the family would eat the dog - as discussed previously.

Change ok? So we see a real show of bravery here as Parry forgets his fear and thinks of the safety of his mother.

This is quite a walk for a boy with a disability to embark on. Does his foot make his trip more difficult & fatiguing?

"Real boys" sounds too much like the contemporary phrase, "Real men." Okay to delete?

If you make changes that are suggested on the following two pages, may need to insert here that Chinook is leader of the boys, they listen to him.

Chinook's turnaround comes too quickly to be entirely credible. Try to work on this? Or cut what's in brackets?

Be sure, if you're going to make his lameness an issue, that you follow up on it throughout the story.

Combination of anger and shame intentional here? Does he not want to see Chinook again because he's angry or because he's embarrassed?

Another reference that Chinook is making to Parry's foot? What does Parry feel?

Parry doesn't die, so "his last bit of strength" isn't true. Change?

In context, arose seems so formal. Change ok?

What gave way? What is the antecedent to "it"? Unclear.

Ok to rewrite to delete some of the its? If not as I suggest, then some other way?

* Parry was the name I originally chose for my young character. My editor suggested the change because she felt it didn't sound French.

Sample Pages

An early draft of The Haunted Igloo, with my own scribbles.
(Before word processor What a mess!)

A page edited by my editor, a copy editor, and myself.
(Note the different colored pencils used; the blue didn't show up well.)

My homemade Inuit doll and sled in a bookstore window.