Nancy, of course, you can put the title of the book here! Another good book, which gives a lot of info on writing and publishing and what editors look for is: The Forest for the Trees. It's packed full of good advice that should be followed.

When I was in CA for "that" wonderful week end, I suddenly got clarity on what I should be writing. I had been working on another book but I think I had fallen in love with it's title more than the book itself. I was really struggling with it. I'd write part of a chapter, only to never return to it. I had no passion for it and I finally figured out that it was the kind of book I wouldn't read myself. I don't know what happened that week end but I suddenly knew what I should be writing and it's flowing very well. Strange.

I can't tell you how many books I've read that are best sellers and have had many printings, that have typos in them. It's just amazing. One book was even on how important it was to have a clean manuscript and it had typos!

This brings up a point about a good editor. They will not change your story and only look for mistakes but actually make you a better writer. This is not a person who will charge you $1 a page and read it and return it to you with no suggestions. That does absolutely no good and is part of the writing world scam. This is what the woman I mentioned earlier did. Some writers want to be published so badly, they fall into these traps and the scammers know it and use it to their advantage.

My editor and I worked through email although we lived in the same town. I'd email a chapter, she'd edit it and send it back via email. If I had a question, I'd call her. Sometimes we'd lightly argue over a point as she was a survivor of dv herself, but between the two of us, we got it finished!

Another point: My publisher wanted to know what I was doing in regards to my subject matter. At that time, I was volunteering at the shelter, had a support group for female inmates and was speaking a lot on dv. This is important because a publisher wants to know what the writer is going to do to promote their book. They expect the writer to push it themselves, along with their PR.

Okay, I think I'm writing a book here!