More About Editing Reason to Breathe

Reason to Breathe was written by my husband’s cousin, and she asked me to read it before she published it. She knew I was an avid reader, and from my book reviews she could tell we had similar taste in literature. I said, “Yes!” of course; I was really curious. Becca didn’t tell me anything about the book beforehand. She just sent me the first few chapters. I was a little nervous before I started reading. I am a picky reader, and I had recently written some reviews on books that didn’t impress me all that much. Had she seen those? Was she sure she wanted my honest opinion? Would I even be able to give it to her? What if I didn’t like the story?

It turned out all my worry was for nothing. After reading only a few pages, I was totally impressed with Becca’s talent and completely intrigued by the story. It turned out to be an absolutely amazing experience for this self-proclaimed bookworm. Not only was I witnessing the birth of a published novel, I was getting to discuss it in extreme detail with the author. How many times do you get to ask the author, “So why did this character do that?” or “What happened when the narrator wasn’t looking?”

I’ll admit the teacher/Hermione Granger part of my brain took over quite a bit. I found myself playing editor, and that was a different kind of thrill. Being a writer and a lover of all things word related, I got such a thrill out of communicating back and forth with Becca and seeing the words and sentences fall into just the right places. Those moments of collaboration left me buzzing with excitement.

I had an “Eek!” moment when Becca told me that she had decided to self-publish the novel as an eBook. Suddenly the editing I was playing at had become very, very real. I took the responsibility very seriously and put a lot of time into the editing process at that point, even reading through the story carefully a second and third time. So, while this story is entirely Rebecca Donovan’s baby, I feel very connected to it myself. Perhaps I’m at least the story’s favorite aunt.

I hope that you read the book and enjoy it as much as I did. I loved working on it because I’m a writer, but the reader in me would have been captivated by the story no matter what.