Reading my own writing isn’t fun to me, and I find no joy in the editing process. It’s why I pay (good money) and rely on a professional editor to assist me with the task. An editor, after all, is supposedly someone with the professional experience, knowledge, and the skills to read a manuscript and turn it into a better version. In my experience, this hasn’t been the case.

My last editor told me my manuscript was movie-worthy and perfect as it was—even after I questioned why there were so few corrections. Stupidly, I let her assessment go to my head. Flying high on what I trusted as her professional opinion, I proceeded to self-publish without thoroughly checking the manuscript. HUGE MISTAKE.

Forward one year later. As I read the manuscript with a grounded ego and an unclouded thought process, I can say her editorial skills were mediocre at best. Grammarly is doing a better job at correcting my manuscript than she did. The novel is riddled with spelling mistakes, poor punctuation, unreadable paragraphs, and much more. At one point, I found I was using two names for the same character—you’d think a professional would catch all those mistakes. Therefore, it’s safe to say her professional editorial feedback was nonsensical drivel. Exactly what a new, self-publishing writer needs.

Regardless of her inadequacy, I blame myself for this blunder. I should have checked the manuscript thoroughly before uploading it. When the embarrassment, disappointment, and anger wore off, I got to it. I’m in the middle of the first review. I plan a second assessment, possibly a third, before I even begin to consider uploading.

Needless to say, at the moment, I’m in the Not-To-Trust-Editorial-Feedback camp, and I’m not sure how long this camp-out will last.

M.L. Lexi

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