Throughout this process I’ve had to wear a lot of hats: printer, administrator, marketer, and fundraiser. In the upcoming weeks and months, more hats are going to enter the picture. Today it was nice to put on one of my old favorites: writer.
One of the most critical relationships any writer develops is with his editor, and by self-publishing I shouldered the risk and responsibility of choosing someone for this position. Ultimately, I approached Elisabeth Blair, a writer who has worked brilliantly in a variety of media including prose, poetry, singing, songwriting, photography, and more. I chose her for her literary discernment. I’ve known Elisabeth for a near decade, and she’s demonstrated a keen and empathic eye for writing. She is able to perceive the trajectory and aspirations of experimental work; its direction and emotional resonance. This is key because so much “avant-garde” writing devolves into literary mumbo-jumbo without coherent points-of-connection. If, on the other hand, the writing can hook its readers and appeal to them on a gut level, the more experimental elements work all the better.
Today Elisabeth sent me her notes on my sixth revision of Hungry Rats and I am thirsty to implement her suggestions. From voice to metaphor, deployment of plot to evocation of setting, she has covered immense ground in her edits, and her insights are striking and illuminatory. I am hungry to start writing again. The result will be a stronger, tighter novel more ready to come into the world.
