Would I lie to you?

Would I lie to you? Why should I, I don’t know you.

I won’t be mean. I don’t think of you as just some words on paper that need a glance or correction. If I have your work in my possession, we’ve emailed, spoken, made a plan together. I do not have to accept or reject your work. As a matter of fact, I love reading so much I will likely enjoy your work regardless of the subject. But I will not lie to you.

I won’t praise for the sake of your ego. I will tell you what needs revision, revamping, rewriting. I will point out spelling and sentences that just don’t work. I’ll tell you if you lost me on a thread of thought or plot; if something was dropped and forgotten in Chapter 4 and by the end I’m wondering where it went.  You may get irritated or think I’m being nit-picky. I’d hope you remember that I’m doing my work in the best interest of your work. And my notes or corrections are ultimately suggestion. You are the creator and the final word.

I will give kudos when something strikes me as awesome! Sometimes it will be nothing more than ! in the margin.  Or a big circle around my word “YES!” I’m a link in the delicate chain between you the writer and you the published author.  You will eventually move beyond me, to an agent, a publisher. But those folks won’t look at your work if it isn’t clear, clean, concise in voice and message and audience.

I won’t lie to you. Neither of us would benefit. We don’t know one another or have an emotional investment in one another. But we will both be invested in your creation.  And through that, we will get to know one another as a team. Who knows, we could someday be FREINDS.