Core Values for the Relationship-Building Editor

Back when I was in college and beginning my trek up the corporate mountain, I worked for a bank, who called themselves “the Relationship People.” They built this ideal around six core values:

1. Do more than expected.
2. Make a difference.
3. Make time for people.
4. If something’s wrong, make it right.
5. Improve someone’s life.
6. Do the right thing.

These six values have stuck with me ever since. In the branch office I where worked, we literally worked these core values into every interaction with our customers and each other. An abbreviated version of the values, “Meet needs; build relationships,” was posted in the branch for all of us to see. We each had a placard at our workstation with the core values on them. We were even pop quizzed on them throughout the workday. As a result, our group was awarded with the highest customer service (and customer retention) rating in the city almost every quarter of the four years I worked there. Working with that group of people gave me the plumb line by which I can now determine and build up the cohesiveness of almost any team environment I enter. I owe them so much.

The best part is that I couldn’t ignore or help but to take all that I learned with me into every situation I’ve faced since. I posed a challenge to myself to make those core values a deliberate part of everything I do—from singing and family life to editing and serving my co-workers and authors. I think that is the main difference between values and goals. You attain goals, but you live values—and you can’t really attain goals without corresponding values.

Basic Word Processing Tips for Writers Submitting to Publishers

There are so many sad things I see when I receive manuscripts from acquired authors or those that come through our unsolicited manuscript pool. Many of these things I just think people know on a common everyday level, but apparently not. And you know what? That’s OK. There are so many things that I should just know, but I don’t. But since I do know a few things that may help writers with repeated word processing issues, I will share them. Hopefully they help not only the writer but also the poor editor that is stuck fixing or weeding through these common missteps.

Most of my advice will come from my experience with Microsoft Word (2003 and 2007), which is the standard format that most publishers, editors, and agents prefer to receive manuscripts. There will also be some that may be exclusive to style based on my experience with the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) 15th edition. Again, another book publishing staple that writers should become familiar with. So check it out and leave any additional things I may have missed in the comments.

Put only one space after a period.
I know, you were taught to do two spaces in your high school typing/keyboarding class, but in word processing programs like Microsoft Word there’s a little flex space after period so there is no need to be redundant. However, I was informed on Twitter this afternoon by @EditorMark that the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is going back to two spaces after a period, but since that only refers to psychological journals, textbooks, and such and has little to do with the mass media books, I just closed my ears and said, "La, la, la, la, la..." All I can think about is the search-and-replace nightmare that would be!

American History and the African American: Reflection for Black History Month

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others….One ever feels his twoness—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

—W. E. B. DuBois, author, intellectual, historian, sociologist
From The Souls of Black Folk

“We the people”—it is a very eloquent beginning. But when the Constitution of the United States was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that “We the people.” I felt for many years that somehow George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in “We the People.”

—Barbara C. Jordan

The first black woman to be elected to the Texas Senate

U.S. Congresswoman from 1972–1978

There is no Negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough, to live up to their own constitution.

—Frederick Douglass

American abolitionist, lecturer, author, and slave

My father was a slave and my people died to build this country, and I'm going to stay right here and have a part of it, just like you.

—Paul Robeson

Athlete, singer, actor, and advocate for the civil rights of people around the world

This week on Twitter, I had the pleasure—no, the honor—to tweet thoughtful quotes by contemporary and historical African American authors and writers. The initial idea popped into my head without me really consciously understanding the impact reading and posting these quotes would have on me.

But the analytical person inside me started to pull out the sociological significance of what some of these people were saying. This gave me pause as I began to replay some of my own feelings related to being an African American. Do I personally feel the duality that surfaced in many of their sayings or writings? I’d have to say yes.

The Ethical Editor: Can We Disagree Yet Be Agreeable?

Some things have happened lately in my tiny editor world that have caused me to question my own sphere of editorial tolerance. In my day-to-day editing activities, I am mostly engrossed in Christian topics that include anything from health, economics, and politics to family life, personal growth, social issues, spiritual matters, and eschatology. But my own personal reading appetite extends past this to African American topics, secular and religious fiction (not necessarily Christian), career, and personal finance.

Now I admit that I wouldn’t edit books on how to beat your wife, twenty ways to worship the devil, or where to find the best pornography, but I’d like to think I have a strong ability to objectively and effectively edit books that differ somewhat from my own personal beliefs. For instance, editing a book that is very conservative politically while I myself am more independent. Or, editing books that prove and push the traditional family model (man works outside the home, woman doesn’t work, stays home, and cares for children) as the right way for a family to be organized, while what I believe and live differs from that paradigm. I feel that I have been able to understand and effectively edit their point of view.

There is an editor friend of mine who will not edit religious and inspirational titles. Why? I don’t really know the details but I am sure this editor has discovered where their tolerance ends. I guess, in so many ways, and if I really think about it, I have too.

Even Editors Need to Be Edited

Now, writers, don’t get all self-righteous. When a good editor is editing you, it’s for your own good and the good of your audience. But there are those few-and-far-between times when an editor needs to be edited. Hmm… I am thinking hard… Got it! It’s when an editor turns writer.

Writing takes a different set of skills and creativity than editing. Please don’t mistake what I am saying here. Editing at its best is almost like brain surgery. It takes a careful hand to make cuts and changes yet still leave the message and voice of the author intact. But when the shoe is on the other foot, the scalpel in another hand, even a good editor must come to terms with being edited.

Writing is a very intimate process. When writing, we can be so subjective and close to our work that many times we unconsciously overlook our own flaws. It’s like true love. We love our own work for what it is on the inside—its substance, its intention, and its potential. Even the most objective and skillful editor faces this when they are writing.

The Harlem Renaissance: My Choice Era in Black History

My favorite time in black history (besides now, ’cause there’s no time like the present) is the Harlem Renaissance. There was such a richness and fertility of life, art, music, politics, and education that existed then. Black people were determined to promote pride, hope, optimism, and unity such that has hardly been seen on that level since. For me, the Harlem Renaissance carries a sort of regal and lavish air to it that is just so attractive.

I love the black and white photos of the men and women dressed to the nines, stepping in and out of the Cotton Club while sounds of Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, or Ethel Waters caressed the night air. Oh, if only I could time travel back to that time! (Only for a short while, of course. I’m not sure if I could handle the segregation and bigoted treatment that was a reality only a few short blocks away.)

Follow Up to Essence.com's Feature About My Unconventional Marriage

Commentary: I Work, He Stays At Home, We're Happy - Essence.com

My Response to the Comments

(This is stream of consciousness. I know, I’m an editor, but just bear with me on this. Thanks!)

I don’t know if the commenters all knew that we have Web access and can read what they wrote. I am sure some of them wouldn’t have cared. :) But we had a slew of really great discourse about our marriage and we respect each opinion. What we can say to this whole thing is that our decision to go after our dreams whatever it takes has opened some big doors for us. Of the fifty-something replies to the Essence poll: “Would you be the breadwinner while your man stays at home,” I was chosen to be featured on Essence.com. Thank you to Bobbi Misick for her careful editing of the transcript of our interview and for thinking our story to be newsworthy.

Will and I have a positivity about our life that we hope will radiate to others and allow them to see that there is more than one way to achieve your goals. Sometimes you got to move things around in your life, make some adjustments, rethink a decision, and redefine what you want to make a way for success.

Someone commented on our story saying that I am not very smart, and I admit that I may not be as bright as that person, but I do enjoy my life with very few regrets.