I’m bringing back the topic of the editing process. Dian, it was not hard to have my manuscript changed by the editors. I’ll say why in a moment. What was hard was when a traditional publisher wanted to consider my book based on me making the change of putting what is the end of Beyond the Tears at the beginning, and vice versa. The publisher read the first three chapters and a synopsis. I was so excited to have a traditional publisher even consider considering my book that I struggled to rewrite according to the request. I spent months trying to make the beginning the end, and I could not accomplish this task. Meanwhile, anyone who read my manuscript liked the treatment of putting what appeared to be the end of my life the beginning of the story. It was too hard to comply with the publisher’s needs, and I dropped the project, and proceeded with my initial version. As for the editing, they did not change my writing style so much; what they did was improve it. I had only two or three disagreements. One of the disagreements, the editor won the point, and in fact I wish I had listened to my own vision. That disagreement is this line at the end of the book: “I was driving on the same streets toward the same motel where I had suffered in suicidal silence two-and-a-half years earlier.” The second (last) editor told me I should put in a time frame for the course of the book. I didn’t want to pin it down to a time frame. Therapy and recovery are evolving processes that cannot be limited to a time frame. Plus, I will always be in some form of “recovery” from my childhood. Some people are candidates for life-long therapy. I did not want people to think that therapy is a short process (although our HMO system pays for only brief counseling.) But she (the editor) insisted it would clarify for the reader, so I put in 2 and a half years, because that is how long I was in therapy with the first Karen before she moved from where we were in Phoenix to Utah. The recovery process in the book took 2 Karens (coincidentally named the same) over 20 years! So, I feel like I misled the reader. I could have left that time frame out. Perhaps if/when a traditional publisher picks up my book (Hay House, are you listening) then I will get to change that. Here’s another example of a changed line in the book: “While I sat in the small waiting room, I watched a distant date palm waving in the breeze. The brownish-green fronds spread over the top, protecting the fruit from the scorching sun.” I had written: “date palm waving in the breeze, its fruit hanging like testicles.” Well, the second editor didn’t like that and asked if I could find another way of describing what I was seeing. But, in the scene, I was in counseling from sexual abuse, and that is exactly what I thought of at that time. Writers: Please listen to your instinct! It is your book! That being said, also listen to the editors, and weigh both. The editors respected most of my creative endeavors, and either reigned them in when I went too far with a metaphor, or drew me out when more clarification was needed. The editors were extremely valuable. What happened though was that I would make changes, and then discover typos in the changes. There are even some typos in the finished product, but then again, I’ve seen textbooks with typos. I’d like to edit for others, like Dian does.