The best parts

Cory from Utah asks, “Of all the parts of writ­ing, from get­ting ideas, to get­ting an award for your book, what’s the best?” 

I find there are many sat­is­fac­tions about writ­ing. Some­times I just feel I have writ­ten some­thing well. Or I think my new idea is good. Or I get a good review or an award and it is very gratifying. 

[Of course, you could sub­sti­tute a neg­a­tive word into all those phras­es, and that hap­pens even more often.] 

How­ev­er, if I had to think of the most sat­is­fy­ing moment for me, it is when an edi­tor lets me know that he/she has read my new man­u­script and tells me they think it’s good enough to pub­lish. That opens the door to so many things. Work­ing with that edi­tor to make the book as good as pos­si­ble. Help­ing to shape the book so it has phys­i­cal beau­ty. Being involved with the art, cov­er and or illus­tra­tions. Work­ing with mar­ket­ing peo­ple to pro­mote the book. Shar­ing the actu­al book with read­ers. Get­ting their reac­tions. And, not least, earn­ing my liv­ing. And it all begins with an edi­tor say­ing, “I like it. Let’s do it.” 

For this writer there is noth­ing bet­ter than that moment. 

Just keep in mind I don’t always hear it. But yes­ter­day I did.