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 I remember my first writers conference well. Many, many years ago,
as a fresh-faced young editor in New York, I was invited to attend a
small romance writers conference in a small town north of the city.
I couldn’t have been more excited. Travel to an exotic locale (off
Route I-91)! Adventure! Free meals (Limit: one trip to the buffet
only)! Two nights raiding the mini-bar at a snazzy hotel (well, a
twenty-room motor lodge off the highway)! I packed up my bag, dry
cleaned my suit, and hit the parkway heading out of town.
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 Fortunately, I don’t get turned down for interviews very often, though I did recently and I was pretty disappointed. The author, C. E. Morgan, is a first time novelist, whose book, All of the Living, stood out to me and I was excited to talk to her about it. Unfortunately, Ms. Morgan is rather shy and does not grant video or audio interviews, we don’t do printed interviews, and so, for now, it was not meant to be. I don’t usually recommend books on this page, but I will do so in this instance, and largely because of what I would like to share with you this month.
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Carol
Fisher Saller is a senior manuscript editor for the University of
Chicago Press and answers the questions sent to the Chicago
Manual of Style website. Anyone familiar with that helpful and
irreverent Q&A web page (and all writers should be) will happily
recognize the same tone throughout this book. This is a stylebook
only indirectly, however. The Subversive Copy Editor is about
the craft and art of editing, whether dayjobbing for a publisher or
working freelance, and a surprising amount of subjects are covered
in this slim, readable volume. As the subtitle indicates, the book
covers the people skills needed to work within the collaborative
environment of publishing—office politics, difficult authors, and
giving yourself a break are all covered. Relevant (and frequently
amusing) real-life examples from Saller and her colleagues
illuminate the best and the worst of the profession.
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 Recently, my youngest son came home with math homework. Usually, he
brings home a page, but on this day he was to complete four sheets.
Although he does do his work, he is often resistant about having
to, and this time was no different.
He approached this bigger assignment in the same manner he often
approaches the smaller ones, and soon found himself running behind.
After dinner he returned to the work but immediately fell to
panicking, as it now seemed difficult as well as too long.
The more upset he got, the less he could focus, the less he could
focus, the harder the work seemed, the harder the work seemed the
more he despaired he could not do it, the more he despaired he could
not do it, the more he panicked. And so it went. more...
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