SURROUNDED BY AMAZING INDIVIDUALS MY ENTIRE LIFE! MY BEGINNINGS!

Amazing individuals in my life!

The Editor Mom

Skylar graduates from Berklee Music School of Boston! 

May I add that she was a self-taught musician no prior training!!!

Dr. Kelli Collins and her proud parents!

    Life as a Mom takes on so many different hats. My life as an editor was continuous and important.

As my children progressed, it seemed that most of the job took place late at night. "Mom, will you look

at my 10 page paper and edit it?" Kelli would say at 11:00 pm.  With only 5 children at home at that 

time, late night was becoming busy. Everyone stayed up later and later. My position as editor moved to

a third shift job. I loved every moment. 

    My favorite part of parenting an writer was during the brainstorming time. Looking back it was some

of my favorite moments, I loved to hear their ideas and watch a simple idea blossom.  What a joy to 

type up the project at about 1:00 am.!!! I was following in my Mother's footsteps only with a computer 

not a typewriter. Those moments added to my appreciation for my Mom's giving so much to my

education!

    Big moments were critiquing Kelli and Sky's college applications. Kelli was going to a small 

California Liberal Arts College in Montecito. The application had at least three essays. The college only

admitted about 400 students with thousands applying. After graduating from Westmont college, Kelli

decided to apply to medical schools.  Wow! That adds an enormous amount of pressure to the editor's

 job!

    Skylar has a way with words. Since a young age, we were all amazed at her vocabulary skills.

The editing job was always a job with Skylar. Many times I had to have my dictionary prepared before

I looked at her paper.  As a sound engineer at Bell's Brewery, she does not spend much time writing

papers. I wish I could go back and edit more of her papers. I would probably advance my vocabulary

no doubt. 

How a small writng job turned into 3 months of hard labor? Successful in the end!

This is a funny part of my writing story. Until I went through the process, I would have never called this a writing journey. But it turned out to much more involved then I expected. My daughter announced that she was getting married at twenty-nine to a wonderful thirty year old guy. (We love him!) The thing about wedding of people over 25, they have attended many weddings of friends and family. They have experienced great weddings and some they would like to forget. But they know for sure their wedding will be fabulous.


   Of course, the wedding starts with an invitation sent with love and directions! If you have any idea how many wedding fonts exist in the wedding world, you know the job I was undertaking. We were writing a wedding invitation, a rehearsal dinner invitation, a puffin cruise invitation, and a Sunday brunch invitation. Yes, I was writing a book or at least it seemed like it to me!

   I started on January 3, 2012 with a trip to Petals and Postings, a wonderful invitation shop in Kalamazoo. Pat, the owner and knowledgable about all things wedding, was a great support to me through it all. We finally had the final copy on the last day of March to send to the printer. I learned every font, every way to phrase the invitation, every way to explain that two Doctors were getting married to each other and why the stamp should look good on the envelope.

    Before this experience, I was beginning to think that I had forgotten the joy of writing and editing. But between all the words and plans, I enjoyed writing the words, re-writing the words and changing the words again when the bride demanded. The invitation turned out fabulous and even I was impressed with the final product. Writing wording on invitations is not for dummies!