NPE sent me my first book to edit. Actually, they sent me two books. The first is a super-easy copy-editing job for a 7,000-word collection of inspirational quotes. I hope to turn that around in a day or two. The second is a mystery/thriller/espionage novel. The writing is pretty good, but the novel was originally written in Italian and then translated into English, so the edit might be on the heavy side. Plus, the book is nearly 125,000 words long. NPE gave me 3 1/2 weeks to complete the edit, but I want to finish it in 10 to 12 days. The faster I get it back to them, the sooner they’ll send me another book to edit.

I have a feeling the next couple of months are going to be mostly about work for me. I want to catch up financially because I’ve dipped quite a bit into the house money and want to build it back up. I’m bad at balancing things sometimes. I get so work-focused, concerned about finances, savings, etc. I need to learn to take more frequent (and longer) breaks. If I don’t, I’ll burn out fast. I’m considering taking the entire day off tomorrow and doing something very fun. This Saturday night I’m going to Mississippi Pizza Pub with a couple of friends to see my friend Andy perform in an all-girl Neil Young tribute show. How awesome is that?

Okay, back to a little Waylon Jennings, a little more coffee, and a lot more editing!

It’s been a very good morning so far. A little Nina Simone makes everything even better.

The book is part mystery, part adventure, part love story, and wholly unique. The characters are well-rounded; the dialogue is smart and funny; the pacing is fast, furious, and fun; and the plot is intriguing and original. The book is set mostly in New Orleans, but a few scenes take place in Alabama. The author has several problematic sections where he shifts from the protagonist’s point of view to an omniscient point of view, but with a bit of rewriting and some deletion here and there he’ll be able to iron out those wrinkly spots in the story.

The author is planning on self-publishing the book. I’m going to phone him today and try to talk him out of it. I think he could easily get a publisher to take it on. Well, perhaps not easily, as the book business is tough, but he’s got an excellent shot at getting his novel published by a big press. I love it so much when I get the opportunity to help make a truly great book outstanding. I hope he’ll take my advice and try to get a literary agent to represent him.

It’s a gray and drizzly Portland afternoon (again), but I don’t mind it so much today. I’m just happy to be cozied up inside editing something wonderful.

Update several hours later: I called the author and told him I’d help him write a query letter for the book and try to hook him up with some literary agents I know. I advised him against self-publishing the novel. And I told him how fantastic the book is. I said, “Give it six or eight weeks, and if you don’t get an agent, then self-publish it.” He was thrilled when he heard how much I love the book and is taking my advice. Hurray for that!

As I wrote in another post, the pay is decent and the work will be steady. They’re a big publisher that constantly puts out books. Even though the pay isn’t nearly as high as what the book editing company is going to pay me, it’s good for freelancers to work for several companies, so I accepted NPE’s offer. They pay through direct deposit within a week to 10 days after the completion of each book, so that’s good news, too, especially since a lot of publishing companies pay within 30 to 60 days after an editing job is done. I’m getting my first book assignment from NPE on Monday. The books they publish are all over the map, so it could be a history book, a self-help book, a mystery novel, or who knows what else. I should have the novel I’m currently editing finished by Sunday, so this next book is coming at me at just the right moment. Funny how things really work out sometimes.

On a totally different note, my friend Carolyn e-mailed me some photos the other night from when I was quite a bit larger. I was shocked to see them, I guess because, as I’ve said, when I was a much bigger girl I really had no clue as to how big I’d really gotten. I’d lost that sense of reality somehow. Anyway, the photo below is from a few years ago, when I was in St. Louis, maybe early 2009. That’s Carolyn’s boyfriend Steve on the left, and our friend Arlene with her son Clyde sitting on the steps in front of the restaurant. This photo was taken, I believe, when I was at my largest, around 235 pounds.

Looking at this photo makes me so sad. Not just because I’d really let myself go when I was living at my mom’s, but because it reminds me of how deep of a depression I’d fallen into and how little I had cared about my well-being. Below is a recent photo of me, taken at Fences For Fido build a couple of weekends ago.

I’m down to 151 now, and after thinking it over for a while, I’ve decided to set a new goal for myself of 140. So I have 11 more pounds to go. After I hit 140, that’s it for me. I’m not going to try to lose any more weight after that. I’ll still try to get in better physical shape, but I won’t aim for a lower number on the scale.

Sweet MoMo is curled up next to me on the sofa, his furry head resting on my thigh. I’m a lucky girl. Not just because of him. Just because of…well, so many things.

I sent 51 more cover letters and resumes today to book publishers and editing companies, which brings my total over the past three days to 101. Crazy, but rather fitting, as WordPress tells me this is my 101st blog post.

One of the editing companies got back to me quickly. In fact, the founder/president called me a few hours after I queried her and left a phone message for me exclaiming, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” in regard to hiring me. (She actually laughed and apologized later and said, “I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with all my ‘yeses.’ “)  I’m too zonked to go into it all right now, but suffice it to say that she and I had an excellent hour-long phone conversation; she said she is thrilled to take me on; I am officially hired after I sign and return the contract tomorrow; the work is going to be steady and long-term and will only be for editing books, not student papers and business documents; AND, best of all, the pay is the highest hourly wage I’ve ever received in all my working years!!!!!!!

This morning one of the publishers I contacted yesterday—a publisher that at first seemed quite cool to freelance for—got back to me and wanted me to take two 12,000-word editing tests to become a freelance editor for them. Basically, they wanted me to edit 90 double-spaced, typewritten pages for free. They added that they pay .004 cents per word for copy editing (that’s less than 1/2 cent per word) and that they want each book to be edited twice, but they only pay you for editing it once. So for a 300-page book, for example, I’d get paid a total of $319 for editing it TWO TIMES. $319 for editing 600 pages.

When I got that e-mail early this morning, I descended into a doleful, heavyhearted state. I felt like a cartoon character sauntering down the sidewalk and BAM! a grand piano falls from the sky and flattens him into nothingness. I thought, Am I being unrealistic about the book business? Can I continue to make a living doing this? Is this what publishers are paying these days?

Instead of remaining glum about it, I mustered my resolve and cranked out those 51 query letters and sent ‘em out and BAM! a grand piano didn’t fall on me—a grand JOB did!

I am on cloud nine! Whatever or whoever this silly (and probably gay; note the rainbow action) beast is pretty much sums me up right now.

Will…write…more…later (uttered in a robotic tone—Editron has been on the computer far too long today). Bye!

Because nearly everything went wrong today, I didn’t get to eat before the meeting, which started at 6:30 p.m., so I didn’t eat dinner until close to 9 p.m., which I hate to do. But my meal was a plate of tasty homemade chicken soft tacos and a big green salad, so I’m feeling much better after this cruddy day. Sorry my posts lately have been on the bummer-ish side. It’s just the way things have gone the past few days! As they say (well, as Scarlett O’Hara said), tomorrow is another day.

Despite all that went haywire today, one of the publishing companies I queried yesterday (a fairly big one out of New York) e-mailed me and asked me to take their editing test. It’s only two pages and the font is enormous, so that’s great news. Plus, they have openings for freelance copy editors right now for both fiction and nonfiction, and the pay is decent, so this should be a good gig for me. Also, despite today’s parade of snafus, I managed to crank out and send 28 more query letters to book publishers, so that brings my total to 50 for yesterday and today!

I’m going to settle in now and watch “The Walking Dead,” the AMC zombie show I’m addicted to. The show took a hiatus for three months, and this is the first new episode since the break. The last few episodes were kind of sucky (too much standing around talkin’, not enough zombies), but in my world a mediocre zombie show is better than no zombie show, so they’re you go.

I e-mailed query letters and my resume to 22 book publishers for editing work and applied for one writing job. Then I selected all of my final creative nonfiction stories for the next issue of Gertrude and sent out all of the rejection and acceptance letters. Then I edited around 3,000 words of the novel I’m editing. It’s nearing 6:30 p.m. and I’m still not done with the day’s work. The good news is that the hiring manager at the NPE (Nameless Publishing Entity) got back to me on Friday. I had sent her a follow-up e-mail to make sure she had received my editing assignment/test. She told me she had but that she noticed I didn’t include an editorial letter to the author along with my assignment. I wrote back letting her know that her instructions hadn’t specified that I write an editorial letter. So I still have to do that tonight and e-mail it to her tomorrow. That doesn’t sound like good news on the surface, but it is because she wants me to send her the original assignment along with the editorial letter, which means I can fix that damn typo I found in my assignment before I send it back to her. So hurray for that! But it sucks that I have to write an editorial letter. I have to do it, though. I really want this gig.

So today I’ve been in front of the computer for far too many hours. Part of that is because I took the entire day off yesterday from work, which is something I can’t remember doing in a long time. I didn’t do one bit of editing or writing yesterday. I did, however, drive down to rural Colton, Oregon, where I helped build a fence for five dogs. It was an enormous fence, the biggest I’ve worked on since I started volunteering for FFF in November. It took us four-and-a-half hours to complete, and the crew was awesome; their spirits didn’t diminish despite the challenges we encountered during the day. I fell head over heels in love with one of the dogs, a German shorthair pointer named Penny. She had puppies recently. They were all given away, and the light was gone from her eyes. Here’s a pic of her.

Penny was in this sorta kennel area and whimpered a lot, crying for attention, as the crew built the fence. So every once in a while I’d amble over and give her a pat on the back or a treat. I gave her a little fleece toy I’d brought along, too, and she snuggled up to that for a while. When the time came to let all the dogs free in their new fenced-in yard, I asked the owner if I could let Penny out of her enclosed area. She said yes, so I dashed over and released Penny into the yard. The second I did, I bawled like a little kid. The moment that Penny was allowed to run free, the luster and glee returned to her eyes. I’ve only done seven or eight builds so far, and a few post settings, but I’d never cried like that at a build before. That dog transformed in that moment, and all the beauty and love in her heart was apparent on the outside again.

I have no business feeling like a grump today. Whenever I help out at a fence build, I get the honor and privilege of being instrumental in something splendid.

8 a.m.

11:17 a.m.

1:33 p.m.

3:49 p.m.

5:57 p.m.

7:33 p.m.
Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest/natural selection apparently applies to editors, too.

After I finished, I e-mailed it to the NPE’s hiring manager and then I found a typo—which I really kicked myself for—but hopefully she’ll overlook one typo in a 7,000-word document. I felt BEAT DOWN after I edited that excerpt, as if someone had tossed me into the perilous bottomless pit that lies 888,000 feet below sea level in the Valley of Ferizebuk in the novel excerpt I edited (things float in the pit because there’s no gravity there, but sometimes they don’t float and fall helplessly to the “bottom of the bottomless pit” because of some nonsensical law the author made up). I was referred to the NPE by a friend of mine from my college days in Madison (and later in L.A.). He told me the test would be grueling and that it took him forever to finish as well. So please, please, please wish me well on this. I really want this gig. The pay is good, and if it works out, the work would be steady and long-term.

After I finished the editing test this afternoon, I raced over to meet Rick in Tigard (once again, for like the tenth time, I drove by the “Patience and Gentleness Are Power” sign), so we could go over a few things for the website. I finally got to meet his wife, which was nice since I’d corresponded with her via e-mail and spoken with her on the phone but never met her in person until today. So our site is now live. I’m really proud of the work we did and hope we get authors rollin’ in soon!

That’s all for now. I had to fight rush hour traffic to get home and then run errands. I’m looking forward to eating dinner, reading a book, listening to some music, and just chilling out tonight. That monster of an editing test drained me. I hope I get good news from the hiring manager tomorrow or the next day! See youse!

p.s. I finished the edit for the Dallas/Fort Worth book yesterday. I started on the Houston one today. I’m gonna crank this thing out like an editing machine. Just call me Editron.