Today on the Snarkology blog:
Jennifer L. Carson started imagining worlds – and people to fill them – when she was six. An award-winning editor at her high school newspaper, she realized in college that fine arts arts degrees are generally not good ways to fund necessities like bacon.
But: “Editing made money.”
So she became a sought-after contract and freelance ‘rescue editor’ for some major Big Five imprints, taking on foundering projects and authors, and setting them right. She put aside her own writing for years. After starting an online writing group to help a younger friend, Jennifer took another look at her original writing:
“In teaching, I learned so much more than I ever suspected I would. I began writing again, and to my surprise, better than ever. The interceding years that I thought would make me rusty had not. The countless rewrites bordering on ghost writing and lots of bull sessions to fix failed text had solidified in the back of my brain. I reaped a reward I never expected.”
She’s leaving professional editing this month, armed with new resolve and a shiny new manuscript.
We wish her good luck, and can’t wait to read her book.
It takes enormous courage to do what Jennifer has decided to do, but she’s well equipped to succeed. Luck is mostly just being responsive to opportunities around us. Jennifer made her luck, or at least catapulted her career far ahead of many other would-be authors, by having a strong, time-tested foundation in language.