When I got the manuscript back from the editor, I was eager for feedback yet afraid that the topics were too controversial. After all, this editor and his wife were the first ever to read the full story. I was certainly self-conscious, but thought that my book had been in good hands considering our connection at the church. His first line in the critique was: “This is a brave book you have written.” Well, I critiqued his critique, thinking that I would have said, “You are brave to write this book” because ascribing “brave” to the book didn’t make sense. Of course, I got the point. This editor made every effort to make my book a better read. He had me cut the book from @167,000 to @95,000 words. He helped me to use the active voice rather than the passive voice. For example, I might have written, “It was a cold and windy day” (passive) to “The day was cold and windy (active). He encouraged me to own the sentence. Instead of “The sun hurt my head” I should write: “My head hurt from the sun.” Overall, I got courses in writing for my $1,000, and spending the money was well worth the improvements to the book. I spent a year making changes according to his suggestions, and then asked him to edit the changes I had made. Alas, he and his wife had so much business that there was a long waiting list, so I had to search for another editor. (If you want to know more about his suggestions, let me know.) BTW, it took a year or more to make these changes because I had also gone back to college at this time.