dandelionfiles

I desperately need to negotiate payment with a decent editor. Many writers resent editors. I am NOT one of them. Trust me, if you're valid and know enough about what makes stories work as well as are knowledgeable about the grammar preferred by editors at papers or short story writers (humor and horror--yep, I'm a genre girl at the moment--although I even have some things that friends assure me may even be literary in nature) I won't resent you at all. I will be very, VERY grateful. It's too easy to get "married" to rotten prose or stuff that bogs a story down--throw in the fact I have MS and there are a couple of brain lesions that make errors easier for me to make (and harder to see)--I really need a good editor. Let me know how you want to be credited in my work or even if you need a percentage of whatever I make off of something--that's fair, and I'm OK with that.

I want to pay you for your trouble. I'm hoping for the barter system, (I will even do chores such as housecleaning and massages--I'm very strong, have been taught by a certified massage therapist, and have fixed a few people's backs. I've been told I give amazing massages) but I'll sell books, CD's, whatever, to make your fee.

Here's what I'm looking for--

1.) Please--be specific about what's wrong. Don't just use red ink with no explanation--if a sentence is awkward, please let me know and explain WHY it doesn't work! Please let me know exactly what's not working in the story format. If a scene detracts, if a character is vague or badly written, clue me in and let me know how to fix the errors. I once made the mistake of trying to get a guy who claimed to be an editor to look over a play I'd written for a class and, as it turned out, he was actually so jealous of my ability (which is strange to me--I have a VERY long way to go until I'm a good writer) that he simply crossed out nearly everything. I couldn't understand what he was talking about or what the deal was, so I ended up turning the play in "as is"--and got the highest grade in the class (as well as had the thing acted out during a skit week) as well as received a cheesy award for it. Looking over it now, it's too wordy and the rhythm of the character's diaglouge is off--but then again, this was a college class, not the "real world".

2.) Please let me negotiate payment with you. No, I'm not rich--however, I can give sweat instead of dollars and save you a lot of time and frustration in your life. (And, as I explained, I give killer massages.) I currently try to do chores, grade papers, etc., for a friend of mine who is kind enough to let me do laundry at her place. If you do need cash, though--can you accept payments? Tony's been encouraging me for years to work on developing my writing and making cash off of that, and that's what I'd like to do here.

Let me know if anybody's interested. My yahoo mail is lynx_cat2005@yahoo.com

Thanks!