Hi Gina. Welcome to Writers4Higher!
1. Tell
me about yourself, your business, and the connection with the writing world.
Since Mrs. Stephens taught me to diagram
complex sentences in seventh and eighth grade and Ms. McCabe had us read Fahrenheit 451 in high school, I have
been fascinated with the written word. But after I read J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey and Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows
in Brooklyn, well, that was it! I was hooked—word nerd, for life.
I have spent over 30 years in the
corporate world, managing publications and editing newsletters and magazines;
advertising, marketing, and conference materials; technical and scientific
reports; and most every other form of written communication, but about 20 years
ago, I started writing fiction. Then I began helping other authors edit their
work and that eventually developed into my editing business.
I offer editing services under the
umbrella name of AROUND THE WRITER’S TABLE, but AWT is much more than just
editing. It is my dream-come-true effort to do everything in my power to
support authors. It’s still growing and finding its own personality, but the
aim is to create an extensive support network for authors, helping them find
the resources, training, and connections they need to get their words out into
the world.
2.
How
do you work with authors?
I consider myself a “teaching” editor
and am committed to helping my clients hone their craft and make every
manuscript better. Since I am a copy editor, I have a line-by-line focus, checking
for spelling errors, typos, punctuation problems and awkward grammar, clarity
and sense, appropriate word choice, consistency, and redundancies. But I do
more than make corrections. For every project, I provide suggestions and
written comments, and I pose questions to help guide the author’s final
manuscript decisions.
My goal is always to assist an author in
the improvement of their craft, thereby making their future work better as well. It really is a privilege to be able to do
this work and to see how writers improve and develop from manuscript to
manuscript. Soon, I’ll be starting a program to receive my certification for
creativity coaching, so I’ll be able to support writers through other phases of
their writing efforts as well. I take a long-term approach with my clients and
hope to work with them throughout their writing careers. The relationship I create with each of “my”
authors is a true partnership, one in which we both have an opportunity to
become better at what we do and better people as well.
As a natural coincidence of the work I
do, I often get all sorts of questions about publishing. I see a lot of writers
who are frustrated and don’t know where to turn for help. So that’s really how
AROUND THE WRITER’S TABLE came about. While our copy editing services are
offered in-house, we are also developing a full list of associates who can
assist writers with all other aspects of writing and publishing that we don’t offer,
such as book cover design and graphic art, developmental editing, publicity, book
trailers, and all the other support services writers need. We want to be able
to refer writers to kind-spirited, talented people who have the authors’ best
interests at heart and can be part of a support team to take them where they
want to go with their writing careers.
Authors often ask us about training and
ongoing education, too. Over the next year, AWT will begin offering workshops,
seminars, and eventually retreats. Our website will get an overhaul, and will include
extensive book lists, links to helpful resources, and several series of online
lessons from me as well as other publishing industry professionals. We’ll be
setting up writing support groups, as well, that will be tied into private
Facebook groups.
My visions for AWT are huge and
sometimes feel overwhelming, but this is my lifelong dream and commitment.
We’re building slowly but deliberately and I’d like to ask your readers if they
have worked with any service or individual that has supported them in their
writing and that they think other authors would like to know about, please send
us the information. Let’s help each other by sharing. Also tell me about any
workshops or conferences you loved attending. Send us your announcements about
book launches and signings, releases, upcoming workshops, and other writerly
events, too. I promise to help get the word out. You can email them to info@aroundthewriterstable.com.
3.
Do
you write as well as contribute through your business? Please share!
I was fortunate to have my short story,
“For What Nate Did,” win the Cody Harris Allen award from Florida State many
years ago, and that is the basis for the novel I’m currently working. Dancing at The Orange Peel is a
Vietnam-era family saga that apparently fits into the “New Southern Gothic”
genre. I was thrilled to learn recently of this fit because I’ve always been
such a fan of Southern Gothic writers, such as Flannery O’Connor, Carson
McCullers, Dorothy Allison, and, of course, Harper Lee.
I’m still a good way from finished with
my book and it will have to be edited (by someone else, of course! Even editors
need editors). But I’d love to have it out next year. The support I have
received from other authors while I’ve been working on the book has been
phenomenal. Because of my connections in the writing community, I get to hang
out, work with, and receive inspiration from some of the most awesome writers
and creative people! To pay it back and forward, I want to do everything, I
mean, everything I can to support them and other authors.
Links
and Contact Information:
