Is an Editor Necessary?

In a word – YES! I’ve come a long way as a writer in the 8+ years since I started practicing writing on this blog. I’ve won a couple awards, been published, and think I’ve improved as a writer. Regular readers of this blog may disagree with good reason.

So, it should come as no surprise that I now use my editor/cousin/godmother/writing mentor less and less. I think I write better now. Who needs an editor? Plus, I feel guilt. I have never paid her a dime for her services. The problem is that even when I send something to her just to read and specifically ask her not to edit, she can’t resist editing. And she’s an excellent, although brutal, editor. She does not pull punches with me. Her editing is outstanding, and I value her general opinion of my writing even more. But still, I don’t want to take advantage of her skills. Sure, I send her a box of orthopedic socks at Christmas, but is that really enough? Probably not. Maybe I should consider a membership for her in the Jelly of the Month Club.

I blogged about a FREE micro-fiction contest. Hey, you writers out there. Yeah, you. Write, dammit. Bookmark that website and enter their next contest. What have you got to lose? I entered. And did I need a professional edit after 3 stories of just 100 words each. Well, 2 stories I wrote were kind of dopey, so I didn’t care about them so much. The third story I kind of liked. I thought it had some legs. I couldn’t screw up 100 words, could I? Here it is. You be the judge.

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She had been making eyes at Jesse all night from the far end of the bar. “Nah,” he thought. “I’m finished with the fairer sex for a while, cuz they don’t play so fair.”

Jesse side-eyed her as she strolled to the ancient jukebox. She glanced back at him before pressing H9. As the first notes sprung from the Wurlitzer, Jesse muttered to himself, “Dang it all. Prine.” He knew a sign when he heard one. Evidence of not playing fair.

Jesse strolled to the dance floor where she was waiting as Bonnie Raitt plaintively sang “Angel from Montgomery.”

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It’s not great as micro-fiction, but I liked its potential as an expanded short story. I could see the whole story unfurling in my head. I needed to write the micro-fiction version as a gateway to writing the longer short story. But what I didn’t see was the glaring mistake I made in just under 100 words. I had one job to do, and I failed. Can you spot it?

Here’s a hint. I correctly made a point of not using the word jukebox twice in 100 words. I used jukebox once and then Wurlitzer, a brand of old-time jukeboxes, the next time. Hey, I did something right! Yay for me. But notice the first sentences of paragraphs 2 & 3. How did the two main characters move? They both strolled. Ugh! Strolled is a bit of an unusual word I should not have repeated within 100 words. Will it matter much? No, probably not.

In the longer short story version of the micro-fiction story, I have the female character strolling toward Jesse and then sashaying to the jukebox. Jesse saunters to the dance floor. I have the capability of catching mistakes, but I often don’t.

The bottom line is that my cousin did see the expanded version of the story and loved it. It’s pretty good if I do say so myself. She did an edit and made it better. I don’t incorporate all of her suggested edits, but I do consider all of them. It’s always good to have a second set of eyes take a look. Use an editor or trusted reader. They will likely find your misteaks mistakes.