It’s good to talk. Writers/editors, do you do enough of it?

Eighteen months on from going all-in with Cherry Edits, I’ve added time to talk into my schedule.

Excuse me while I mix my metaphors… The majority of my week is still taken up with at-the-typeface edits: my bread and butter. And it’s good bread and good butter!

I love the work I do – keep it coming! Nothing beats a good line / copy edit. I get positive feedback from my authors, so it’s excellent that something I enjoy doing is so well received.

But, I’ll be honest, it’s a lot of time spent solo at the computer. And I’m a chatty kind of person, so I need to build in more opportunities to talk.

My latest conversation was with Kristin Noland, who is doing similar but different work from me over in the US.

We arranged to meet to discuss omniscience. Kristin and I have both expressed a preference in our own reading for third-person limited points of view. But we know that people who seek our editorial services might not feel the same, so we wanted to discuss the ins and outs of omniscience. Writers can and do pick this POV – not as often as 3rd or 1st, to be honest, but some do go this way. Omniscience is a legitimate POV. It can work brilliantly if it is handled well. And we both want to make sure we offer the right support to writers who have – for the right reasons – framed their stories this way.

To aid our discussion, we’d picked a book written from an omniscient POV. ‘Station Eleven’ by Emily St. John Mandel. It’s a dystopian novel, set after the ‘Collapse’, when a worldwide pandemic ends life as we know it. Its scope is ambitious. We have incredibly zoomed-in access to characters’ thoughts, then we have incredibly zoomed-out perspectives on what’s going on at a global level. And everything in between. We go back in time and forward in time. The narrative POV frames the present in full knowledge of the future. With all this going on, the book proved to be a useful vehicle for a consideration of omniscience.

I used to work in a department with 10+ other people, in an organisation of 1000. And I went from this to a rather quieter working life. My well-being improved massively once I got going with Cherry Edits, but after 18 months of editing full time, I’ve decided I need to build in more opportunities for chat and collaboration. Meeting up with Kristin like this is exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for. Geeking out about our craft. Discussing our editing businesses. And a bit of chat about British telly (esp cop programmes). What’s not to like?

I’d be interested to hear from those of you reading this who have similarly quiet jobs – writers, editors, others. Perhaps this wholly suits you, or perhaps, like me, you’ve realised there’s a need for more interaction. Have you found opportunities for chat?

I’ve built chatting into my service offerings, too. Chatting with a purpose, obvs. Not just shooting the breeze. To find out more about my 1-to-1 or group-based talks, click here.