by Bill Harper on June 5, 2010
In the past I’ve talked about the editing process, and how whenever I edit someone else’s work I seem to leave footprints in their text.
Well, I think I’ve finally conquered that problem.
Today I received an advanced copy of “A practical guide to Information Architecture”, the book I spend a month or so editing for my friend Donna Spencer. (It gets officially released on the 8th of June.) And as I started reading it I saw my name in the list of credits. “Editor: Bill Harper”
It was an incredibly satisfying feeling. I worked really hard on the manuscript, and it was great to see my name along with the rest of the production crew. (The publishers have since asked if I’d be interested in working on other projects. Two words: “Hell yeah!”)
But then I read the acknowledgements page, and I was blown away. Here’s what Donna said about me:
“My editor Bill Harper was amazing. I looked at the first chapters he sent back and thought he hadn’t done anything – I couldn’t see any differences. But he had done tons of work – he’d managed to improve my writing out of sight and still keep it sounding just like me. Bill, I hope you can edit for me for every other book I write (and I’m glad you’re my friend).”
Now I’ll admit I was lucky: Donna and I have very similar writing styles, and so it was nowhere near as difficult as it could have been. But still, it was great to see she couldn’t even see where I’d been until she actually compared the two versions. Not a footprint in sight.
If you’re reading this Donna, I can’t thank you enough. For your friendship, for your faith in my abilities, and for your kind words that have done more for me than you can possibly imagine. And I would be honoured to edit every other book you write.
by Bill Harper on April 20, 2010
It’s been a while since I last blogged (and even that blog was a long time coming), so I thought I’d touch base and let you know what’s happening.
Okay, let me start by telling you I haven’t given up blogging. I realise I’ve dropped the ball in terms of posting every day (though it had to happen eventually—I think was a little too ambitious for my own good), but I still intend on posting whenever I can.
So why has it been so long between posts?
Well, in early April I went on holidays for a week or so to spend time with friends of ours, as well as to clear my mind and give me time to think about a few issues. And while I could have spent a few hours each day writing posts with my iPhone, I had far better things to do—like walking along the beach.
I posted the night I got back to Brisbane, and thought I’d be able to quickly slip back into the routine. But instead of heading to my computer at night, I found I was heading straight to bed.
It seems that while the medication I’m on stops some people from sleeping, it’s having the opposite effect on me. For the past few weeks it’s been a real struggle staying awake past nine o’clock. (Having a contact lens that isn’t quite the right prescription is also making me feel tired pretty quickly.) And considering I don’t usually start writing my blog posts before ten, this is proving to be a real problem.
I’ve been told by a good friend of mine that this will pass, and that I’ll soon be back to my normal self (well, better than my normal self, actually). But for now I’m afraid you’re just going to have to put up a bit of sporadic posting until my body sorts itself out.
In the meantime, thank you all for your support and your kind words of encouragement. I may not have thanked you individually, but believe me it’s very much appreciated.
