You might suppose I have a lot of cats. I do, of course—five to be precise—but that's beside the point.

If you're a cat person, you'll know how good it feels when a cat settles on your lap. It means they trust you not to harm them.

The editing relationship requires a similar kind of trust. It takes courage to put your writing into someone else's hands. You want to be confident that your editor will help refine your work, not undermine it. And you want to know that your investment will be worth it.

When you choose to work with me, I don't take your trust lightly. I respect the work you've done to develop your ideas and put them on paper. And I respect the fact that you are investing time and money to make sure your writing achieves its goal. While I will make suggestions on how to improve the text (it's what you're paying me to do, after all), I take care to ensure that it remains your writing, not mine. My goal is to make sure that your words are as clear and effective as possible—so that your text accomplishes what you need it to do, whether that's persuading a new client to work with you or capturing the imagination of a young reader.