Thursday, June 18, 2015

My Editor Says That These Two Words I Use Make Kitties Cry

The short of it:

My editor finds an innovative way to point out my repetitious writing habits.

How it began:

I handed in draft number umpteen (that's an understatement) of my 1920's horror novel, Flickers. A short time later (geologically speaking) I received the edited version all marked up in Microsoft Word. All was well and I even laughed when I came across this:


So I dutifully changed it to this:





Then a few pages later this appeared:


Another uproarious laugh exploded from my lips. Exploded, I tell you! This is the kind of back and forth authors love with their editors. And on the next page I found this:


Aha! Game on, I thought. Game on! So for fun, I changed it to this:

And the next one I changed to this:

But something horrible happened. The kitties kept coming. A calvacade of crying kitties. 







A cry of pain strangled itself in my throat. The horror! The horror!
There was only one logical response:




**No editors were hurt in this process. 17 kittens in total cried. Only one author was slightly damaged.


More fiction, zaniness & stuff at:


This post make you laugh? Help an author out by sharing it. Click on any of the links below:

Share on Facebook*Share on Twitter*Share on Google+*Share on LinkedIn* Send Email to a Pal

12 comments:

Sophie Playle said...

Haha! Brilliant. It's great to have such a rapport between author/editor :) Thanks for sharing - this made me smile!

Unknown said...

Always here to make people smile. And kitties cry...

vjc said...

It seems cruel to laugh at crying kittens. But you made me do it anyways :)

My Writing Site said...

This definitely made me laugh out loud. Your editor sounds awesome.

Unknown said...

Oh my! this kitty laughed and laughed and... paused. Then laughed again. Thanks for the laugh, cry and the amazing tip.

Darth Lolita said...

HAH! I have this exact problem. I'll most likely be super self-conscious about it now, but that's probably a good thing. Gotta be aware.

Thanks for sharing :D

Unknown said...

Well, I'm glad my pain and the crying of kittens has made you laugh.

Sylvia McNicoll said...

Ha, ha. I wish editors all had time to insert baby animal pictures. Very de-stressing in the editorial process. I prefer puppies whimpering though

DB said...

Oh my . . . I am dieing here. I don't think I will ever look at a He/She paused again without thinking of Crying Kittens. Thanks for the enlightenment on a horribly hot day.

Unknown said...

It may be that we can somehow use crying kittens to save the world!

Laurel Karry said...

Always fun to see what wacky new ideas you have, Art! I love seeing the writing process from a true master of words and creative thoughts.
Hey Art,
Have you ever considered coming to Telling Tales at Westfield Heritage Village in September? Amazing venue for Children's Lit authors and lovers.

Oh, and only happy, smiling kittens live in Ontario:)

Unknown said...

Thanks, Laurel!

I'd love to go to the festival someday. Tell them I'm free next September! : )