Editorial Good Luck

I've been lucky, when it comes to editors. Alane Mason of WW Norton dug my first manuscript out of a slush pile and called on my birthday to say that she thought she could gain her colleagues' support for the book; she did, she edited wisely, she became, over the course of two additional memoirs, a reliably intelligent provocateur and friend. I respect Alane—the books she's chosen to take on, the book she herself translated (CONVERSATIONS IN SICILY, published by New Directions), and her tremendous work as the founding editor of Words Without Borders, for which she has edited anthologies of writing from around the globe. From Alane I learned about structure. I learned how to look over my own shoulder, to opt for substance over flourish, to not allow my obsession with the sound of language to overwhelm the stories I tell.

Lately, I've been working with this Vegas Fab (as my friend Lori used to say) team at HarperTeen—Laura Geringer (reflective, encouraging, compassionate, and herself an award-winning writer), Jill Santopolo (not just an incredibly responsive and thorough editor, but a kind and patient one), and Lindsey Alexander, who is as dear as her name suggests. From these three women I've learned when to delve deeper, and when to cut a line short; I've learned weave. I've also felt like I've been given a very real, second home in a tremulous world, and, really, who doesn't want that? And let me just say that I love the covers they've been putting on my books—love the fact that they have cared so much about getting every last detail right.

Jill has her own YA book due out next summer (ALEC FLINT, SUPER SLEUTH: THE NINA, THE PINTA, AND THE VANISHING TREASURE) and I'm basically standing here first in line to read it. Her web site is now up, in the meantime, complete with Rebus Riots to solve. I hope you'll check it out. http://www.jillsantopolo.com/