The Man Behind the Scenes… My Editor

My editor is always on the phone… a very busy man!

I felt it appropriate to introduce my editor on this particular weekend.  He does not get much credit for the painstaking work he does, proofreading, rewording, rewriting, and making suggestions to what I jot down for story.  He’s particular and concise [It’s OK honey, you can say it – “He’s anal”].  I am most thankful though, that my editor knows me to the core.  He understands the guts of my writing, the nuts and bolts of the intent and the personal, spiritual importance of my words.  How does one acquire such an accomplished editor you ask?  Well, let me tell you…

He discovered me first – my writing ability that is.  Always an encourager to people around him, he prompted me to start this blog.  He had taken special interest in some of my personal writings, mostly childhood stories and memories of my past.  He also knew my love of photography.  He suggested pairing my love of writing and photography through blogging.

My editor is a cabin builder on weekends this summer!

And so I did.  In the beginning though, I published posts without really looking them over.  You know how it is; you spend hours writing, look the finished product over a time or two, and then realize after you publish to the world that there are errors in the work.  A misspelled word, a fragmented sentence, or missing punctuation.  Sometimes I didn’t realize it until one of my reader’s pointed it out – that was embarrassing!  Usually, it was my Sissy Jo (sister-in-law) who discovered the errors I needed to fix.  I saw this as a sign that I needed an editor, and was lucky enough to find myself one right here at home!

FD plumbing in the water line to our house.

There are some very nice perks to having one’s husband as their editor.  For one, FD was in favor of me choosing to do the work I loved – that being a stay-at-home ranch wife.  So it was that I quit my daytime job and took on this ranch work full-time.  I flourished being productive doing work that I love – tending the garden and yard, grooming flower beds, cooking healthy meals, and taking care of our home.

Not long after I left my day job, I took up fostering dogs for JCCARE, a Japanese Chin rescue group. After adopting one Chin, fostering two, then adopting another (See my post “Introducing the Ranch Hands“), I decided to take up the “fostering” of wildlife and applied for a license to become a wildlife rehabilitator for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.  Life really got interesting with all of the animal activity that followed.   My new “career” also offered plenty of opportunity to blog about life here.  FD was game for it all and never complained.  He didn’t bat an eye about anything I wanted to try.  Always, though, he encouraged me to find time to write.  Outdoor work, housekeeping, laundry and even meals could fall by the wayside if I was writing.  He even bought me my first good camera and several lenses to get started!

FD is a compliance specialist for an electrical generation and transmission cooperative. He takes care of anything here on the place that I can’t (or sometimes just don’t want to) handle.  He is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to building and repairs.  He can plumb, wire, build fence, fix a flat, tinker with an engine, and patch up a wounded horse. This summer, he and a friend have taken on building a cabin in the woods – using an old, washed up, county road bridge for lumber.  He has documented every step of the construction.  I hope he will blog about it someday.   He is also a fine writer and photographer.  Aside from all of the work he does at his day job and around here, he promotes relaxation and fun as well.  He is a hopeless romantic.  He never forgets a special event or milestone.  Editing my blog is just a small aspect of the man I married.  I respect and adore him for all that he is.

This is his candid “editor” pose!

Thank you, FD, for knowing what I meant to say, and how to say it more eloquently.  I appreciate you dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s and catching my dangling participles [Editor’s note: Oh how I love to catch those dangling participles…].  You are the best editor a writer could ever ask for! [Why thank you dahling!]

© Day by Day the Farm Girl Way…