Ever since I went freelance and started critiquing manuscripts directly for authors, I’ve had people submit their manuscripts to me via email. It’s easier, and I don’t have to worry about publishing my home address on the internet.

However, I’ve always been an on-paper editor when it comes to the first developmental edit. When I’m reading on screen, I’m parsing out the sentences and paragraphs–I’m line editing and copyediting. It’s a completely different editing mindset. So trying to do big-picture developmental edits on screen was trying at first. And now I’ve realized why–that’s part of my process. It helps me to separate the early developmental edits from the line and copy edits–and it also allows me to physically be moving from page to page more quickly, and to page back more quickly, and so forth.

So from now on, for full manuscript critiques (which are full developmental edits, with notes in the margins, line edits in the text, and an editorial letter addressing big-picture issues), I think I’ll give people information on how to mail the manuscript to me after we’ve agreed to work together. That is, you’ll email me the first three chapters (three chapter critiques will remain electronic), then I’ll decide whether I’m the right editor for the job and give you an estimate if it looks promising. If we agree to the estimate, I will give you the mailing address for sending the manuscript–which will also give you the option to pay by check, for those who don’t want to deal with Paypal.

Hopefully this will be an improvement in the process for both you and for me. It will organize and make the process more efficient so that I won’t have to enter my changes into Word (which is time-consuming), and for most people it doesn’t matter whether comments are hand-written or in Track Changes. And it’ll make things easier for those who don’t have Word, as well.

Galesburg, IL is a town I consider my second hometown–I went to elementary school there for several years, and my mom has lived there for most of her life. I’m actually from Galva, a little town about 1/2 hour from Galesburg, but I spent a lot of time in Galesburg growing up to visit my mom after we moved back to my dad’s house, and of course every time I go home I spend a lot of time there visiting my mom.

The Galesburg Public Library was my library. The children’s room is where I discovered Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew, the Hobbit, Judy Blume, and Garfield (it was the 80s). We were there during the summers practically every day–we would walk there from our apartment on the edge of town (it has to be at least 3 miles, but my big sister, little brother, and I made that walk a lot–I’m not sure how we did it, except that it was the only way to get there, with only one bus route in town and at a time in our lives when we didn’t always have a working car; with a single mom who often worked a lot, if we had a car and she wasn’t going to the library with us, she had the car with her at work).

So it was a nice surprise to see this article in School Library Journal, showcasing how the Galesburg Library has a program to share prom dresses with girls who might not otherwise be able to afford it. My own senior prom dress cost $5 on a yard sale, and was a good two or three years out of date (bubble skirts aged quickly in the late 80s/early 90s!) so this program hits pretty close to home for me. Galesburg and the towns around it have been hit hard economically for decades–this is nothing new; we’ve been dealing with a bad economy since the farm crisis in the 80s. The local foundries in several towns have been gone since the 80s, and the hog market (the main animal product of local farms) has been pretty dry since the late 90s. My dad drove Butler steel beams for construction sites on long-haul for 17 years after we lost our farm in the 80s, and now Butler is gone. My aunt worked at the Maytag plant for over 25 years–as did several friends–and that plant shut down back in 01 or 02.

As you can imagine, there’s a reason I don’t live near home–there are just few jobs to be had, and there haven’t been for years. So it’s always nice to hear good news from home–and it’s even better to see that good news in a national magazine. I’d love to hear job news for my friends still living closer to home, of course–but it’s still great to hear that despite the area’s economic troubles, people are making sure that a milestone experience for many teen girls is a happy one.

This Wednesday (as in, two days from now) I’ll be speaking at the Salt Lake Public Library for the monthly SCBWI meeting. That’s at 7pm, at the 4th South main library. Topic of the evening is the state of YA and children’s fantasy and science fiction.

In a couple of weeks I’ll speak in Layton, UT at the Barnes & Noble, for the Wasatch Writers chapter of the League of Utah Writers. That’s Monday, April 13, at 7 pm, 1780 Woodland Park Drive in Layton. Topic: what I do as a freelancer and how I work with Tor as a consulting editor.

Later this month, I’ll be at the LDStorymakers conference in Provo.

Then on May 2, I’ve been asked to come to The Dragon’s Keep in Provo  as a creator guest for Free Comic Book Day.

If you’re local, hope to see you at some or all of these.

A random thought that has occurred to me as I’ve done a number of critiques in the last few months:

A lot of people say that grammar doesn’t matter because the editor fixes that anyway.

Wrong.

The voice of your book is shown in how the narrator uses grammar. Oh, a typo here or there isn’t going to make a difference–yes, copyeditors catch that.

But if there are so many spelling errors and comma splices and syntax errors that it’s impossible to make out just what the meaning of a sentence (or paragraph) is, you’re undermining the story you’re trying to communicate. Writing is all about communication, and to communicate well, grammar plays a vital role. It seems pretty basic to me that if you want to tell a story well, you need to know how to construct a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter, etc.

Just thought I’d throw that out there as something to think about. Grammar is part of your toolbox. Use it.

Readergirlz and Laurie Halse Anderson ([ljuser]halseanderson[/ljuser]) are celebrating Speak‘s 10th anniversary with a poem. Prepare with tissue before watching.

Featuring Utah writers Carol Lynch Williams, A.E. Cannon, and Shannon Hale, and Boston-area writer and graduate of Vermont College’s writing for children master’s program, Julie Berry, the Boston Globe explores why Mormons are writing–and getting published–in YA literature, especially fantasy.

“Nerd girls are the most underutilized romantic resource.”

Indeed. In-deed.

I just hired an intern. Or “hired,” more like–she’s just doing this for the experience. But it’ll be great to have a little help every week with organization and reader reports.

Also, my reading backlog is slowly clearing out this week and next–if I have something from you to consider for Tor, you should either be hearing from me soon… or maybe not so soon but sooner than later. If it’s something that I will be taking to the next level of consideration and doesn’t need further work, it might take a little more time, of course. For those that I might have questions on, hopefully we’ll be discussing those in the next week or two. Thanks for your patience.

And wow, there are a lot of you out there who need critiques this week! That’s wonderful! I’m glad to help. But given how much attention I’ve gotten due to LTUE last week and Cynthia Leitich Smith’s interview, I’ll be a little slower than normal due to volume and the need to juggle other non-critique projects. It’s stretching to a 2-5 business day turnaround at the moment, though it fluctuates. Thanks for your patience, too.