More about writing and editing a book

My editor brought me half of my book last week and I finished my review last night. I feel the editor shares my vision for the book, which is really important as we go through this process together. Everything is looking good so far. She has come up with clever headings for the sidebars and activities (no sidebars in the original, and the activities were titled "Activity"; not too creative!). We needed to discuss a matter of political correctness and found a workable solution together. I had way too much stuff on one page, so something had to be cut there. My books tend to be dense because they have so much instruction and a great variety of art. Because I have a background in writing my text is clean as far as grammar and spelling go. I appreciate her input on anything that makes content clearer. I know one artist who claims her book was published exactly as she gave it to her publisher (not North Light). You could tell. It would have been so much better with a good editor.

The rest of my book will be here on Monday and I have until Friday to finish it. So I have the weekend to get caught up on other stuff. I'm going outside to work in my woods and bring in my house plants before they freeze. It's a beautiful fall day in southwestern Ohio.