LETTER TO NEW EDITORS

he e-magazine MIND-SNAP is now being edited by many writers who have not edited any material other than their own writing. Here are some tips to help our writers  be able to integrate this new responsibility:

 1. This e-magazine is a professional publication. Most of us are not professionals, so we have to start somewhere. As a whole there are a number of factors we have to keep in mind when we edit: spelling, grammar, sentence structure are important. However, content, context, and clarity are what will make an article or storyline stand out from other less well executed material. We do have to pay attention to the finer details of writing. All of us have written our own material, and thus have experience in this way that can help us see another’s writing in a light that non-writers would not be able to glimpse. An experienced editor can always tell who is a professional and who is not, and who has “promise”, or the seed of genius that will involve their readers and will make more money for their magazine or press. We also have to keep some of this in mind.

 2. All editing that will be done is valuable and necessary, so always focus on the piece of writing that is your responsibility to edit. It is true that editing can be done in steps, ie. going over the material for spelling errors, or sentence structure, or grammar, or anything that needs to be spotted that needs some correction. It may be that approaching the material as a beginning editor might seem to be a daunting task if taken as a whole, and it may seem to be easier to break it down into steps. If you think about it, it actually may be easier to break it down sentence by sentence, then paragraph by paragraph, looking to see if all the aspects are in order, taken as a whole piece of writing as you progress through the material, looking for all the basics along with clarity of thinking in context. In actuality, it does literally shorten the time needed to edit in the long run, since you will learn the art of editing more thoroughly and will really learn to comprehend what is behind the intent of the writer.

 3. There is an additional responsibility an editor accepts: If the need arises, the editor may reject a piece or call for a rewrite to clarify a “fuzzy” area that is not yielding the clarity needed to be understood by a reader. The aspects of the writing may be loosely knitted together, and needs to be “tightened up” to increase the dynamism or momentum of the piece for more impact. This will come with practice. When/If something does not hang together well, the editor sends it back for either a rewrite or for some entirely new writing to expand or contract what is seen. A professional editor sees multiple submissions in a day, and competition for acceptance is high, since only so much material can be accepted to be used or held back as a pool from which future editions will be taken. The writer does need to know how soon a submission may be given to another source if not used by the present publication. The writer may also state that multiple submissions are being made, which may not be acceptible to an editor under Press policy. This depends on the publication’s guidelines and the writer’s desires, as per negotiation if policy is open to this.

 4. Some things to consider concerning rejection or rewrite: Many writers, aspiring to become professional, have a stack of rejections. Ask any professional, depending on whether it is an article or a book manuscript. It can take months, possibly years with a book manuscript, and multiple submissions to various magazines or Presses to be accepted for publication. Then comes the series of rewrites before an editor is satisfied with the final draft. This is what makes it difficult to break into becoming a successful writer. There are many many aspiring writers “out there”, and fewer successful writers when it comes to assessing the “numbers”. Here is where

MIND-SNAP is different. The “playing field” is leveled in this Neothink Society. Every writer and poet has a better chance at becoming successful here than in the anticivilization. However, even here, with the assistance of the Writers/Poets Essence Team the new writer still has to create an intriguing piece of writing to be accepted for publication. Professional editors often seem “cold and uncaring” to a new writer with no note of encouragement accompanying a rejection slip. I would encourage our editors to proceed with heart and respect for the individual who is striving to become the best writer he/she can be!

 5. Writers do not know, when they are begining,  what they don’t know, so any tips and assistance that will help them to become better writers is importance in our Society. Any insight that will help open up their writing into a full-fledged rendering that will strengthen their writing and involve the reader in living it is appreciated by the writer and this Society. The context of environment, the imagination in construction and the dynamism of emotion and interior contemplation which brings richness in depth is important in a creative piece or in a book, unless it is a professional area of expertise that is factual and already resides within certain guidelines according to the profession. The biggest criteria is: Does it involve the reader’s attention to completion of reading it? All submitting writers need to be open to rejection, critique, and rewrites if necessary.

 6. All writers need this challenge to improve. From the editor’s side, this is not a “challenge”, but from the writer’s side comments on their writing may “hurt” since writers are quite sensitive people and have already put their heart into what they have written, and consider it the best of themselves=therefore it is considered by the writer as a challenge in that sense. It is really a challenge to improve toward excellence! We have to be in the mind-set of openness to accept what others offer to us about our writing, and with that courage just go for plumbing ourselves further down in our depths to reach those more sensitive and meaningful layers of ourselves. The more open and honest these are, the more will pour out into our writing.

 7. All editors have their style…Alot of editors take a look at a few pages of a manuscript, and just send it back to the writer. Many read it through for content and impact that it shows if they consider it worth reading, making notes if they find they want to work with the writer & it is a valuable article or book from someone who has alot going for them. Some  editors do it in blocks/getting the jist of it, but ALL look to tear it apart where it needs it in order to improve it or see if the writer responds to improving the writing. It depends somewhat if this is a magazine, or a Press that accepts all kinds of writing to even novels. We are a Press, so more will be required of us. We are also beginning Neothinkers, so more will also be required of us because of this. All beginning editors will become confident in their skills as they gain experience over time. Clarity of concept in context to make a whole big picture is significant as Neothinkers. Our skills will improve as we become more emboldened through our own evolution in Consciousness, which can come to see all, know all, within our own Essence. Our own writing will show this progression!

 8. Yes, I do see that Genius within us and within many of our writers in the Essence Team. We are works in progess, and so is our writing. As we improve, so will our writing. We have to get that ingrained within us…At the most, we are in the trenches=this is the most important step we have taken. A number of good writers are in our Society, and I can see they have IT. But few have not yet claimed IT, nor entered the trenches, seeking toward excellence. Just one example: On the boards, how many times have you seen members say they want to write? Yet we have not had most of them contact us, and most of the time (almost all of the time) we never see any more examples in posts of them furthering their desire. All of this speaks for itself. Now, we as writers have progressed to editors! We also have to claim it! This is our challenge…NOW.

 9. When the InBox is full of submissions, it is a filter to read through all to see what you glean from the mass. Then pick out the obvious rejections, and select the best submission with which to begin your editing. Continue on until the e-magazine is suffused with material. Get with the Editing Team to select the best and better submissions, and here is where you can start! This is the most efficient method.

 10. One last observation: The absolute last thing I want to do is to discourage or appear to put down any writer! or cause anyone to feel depressed about their writing ability. Some professional editors are literally brutal in their critiques to a one of multiple submissions they receive. They do not know the writer, only looking at their writing, and do not have time for the subtleties of encouragement. I hope we editors are compassionate enough to be clear and to the point, yet not be in that realm of brutalizing our writers. We do have to look at things from the reader’s standpoint, since this is a part of our profession, our earning our living $ wise. So alot of responsibility lies with us.

 I’m sure a more accomplished editor would have more to say, but I do wish all the new editors my Best Wishes in our work, since I am one of us. I would predict that within 6 months or less, you will not recognize yourselves as editors or even the writers you are today!

 Love, Lila Bennett