Discovering Creativity, Courage, and Professional Growth: Lessons Learned from Editing Everyday Inspiration for Change

The life of an editor isn’t easy, and sometimes, it means a lot of waiting. Waiting for a new book to come your way, waiting for final manuscript approval, waiting to hear back about those comments dangling on the side of a document…

It was in one of these waiting phases that Kofi Douhadji told me that Flying Wings had a new book coming in written by an amazing lady named Minola Jac . For some reason, I still doubt when Kofi introduces me to new people. I’m an extreme introvert, so it takes a lot for me to feel comfortable around someone; I can certainly get over it when I need to be professional, but it truly is a relief when you can just be yourself around whoever you’re working with, when they just “get it.” And without fail, every single person who Kofi has introduced me to has been what Anne Shirley would call “a kindred spirit.” And Minola was no exception!?

From our very first chat, I knew there was something special about Minola. Subsequent emails, messages, and meetings had us laughing, chatting, and sharing memes and pet pictures like we were old friends. Everything about Minola put me at ease—but the actual task of editing her book lingered like a single black cloud hovering in the distance. From my first look at Minola’s book, I knew it was one of the most challenging manuscripts I’d tackled so far, and I wondered if I could really complete an editing job so long, complex, and specialized.?

Minola would go on to frequently call her book a “nightmare,” but I disagreed every time. I have nightmares about bad books, not challenging books. There’s a big difference! Editing a bad book is a chore—no matter how polished you make the writing look, the story will still be bad, and there’s nothing you can do about it (assuming you’re just hired to copyedit). Editing a good book (no matter how intricate the process may be) is a privilege because you get to be a part of a book that will mean something to people. If I can help get something like that out into the world, of course I’ll do it, and I’ll even do it with a smile through the rough spots—especially when Minola is cheering me on and sending me adorable dog pictures on a daily basis!?

And as much as I loved my experience working on Minola’s book, there were certainly a few rough patches in the editing process. From the very beginning, Minola insisted that the tone and style of the book needed to remain intact, and she was absolutely, 100% right to be protective of her voice—it’s one of the things that makes her narratives so special. From an editing standpoint, though, it’s not easy. Every change you make is a judgment call: Is this going to make things clearer or muddle her voice? Keeping things consistent was a challenge, too, in a book so long.?

But despite my early worries that I wasn’t up to the challenge, I found myself comfortably settling into the process pretty early on. Part of that is because editing is editing—books may get longer and more complicated, but quotation marks always go in the same place and book titles are always italicized; perhaps one of the reasons I love grammar is because I find so much comfort in the fact that it doesn’t change. Hmm…deep thoughts for another time…

An even bigger reason why the editing process soon became an exciting, steady rhythm, though, was because the book was just so enjoyable. I loved every moment of reading it. From the start, it surprised me—I had no clue what “change management” was before I met Minola, but it didn’t sound too exciting. That was before I started the book and realized how our lives are filled with change and learning how to manage it, even in the little moments. It was unlike anything I’d ever read before, so I drank it in. I didn’t really even remember that this was supposed to be a daunting project…

…until the quotes came along. I think they will forever be a joke between Minola, Kofi, and me now. Minola has written a wonderful article on what she learned while going through the quotes; my takeaways were more technical in nature. I was already knowledgeable about copyright, but I became an expert within a couple of weeks. I learned more about citations, footnotes, endnotes, and just how irritating Microsoft Word can be than I had from any of my past editing projects. In short, the whole book—including the quotes—simply made me a better editor.

But when these challenges were faced and conquered, they all came together to form the beautiful piece of art that is Everyday Inspiration for Change. I think the saying that nothing easy is ever worth doing is very true; the most beautiful things we create are born after hours upon hours of hard work, sweat, and tears. The commitment adds a whole other meaningful layer to the book. Maybe readers can’t physically see what went on behind the scenes, but I think it’s a tangible element you can feel in any book worth its salt. The metaphorical blood shed by the author, editor, publisher, formatter, cover designer, etc. leaves a stain behind that careful readers can’t help but notice. This is the number one takeaway that stood out to me about the process of working on Minola’s book:?

Everything beautiful takes time. We can’t and shouldn’t rush the process. Anyone who’s read my blog has heard me sighing about how media is, sadly, day by day pushing for quantity over quality. As someone very involved in the publishing industry, it truly frightens me how much influential voices are pushing schemes like “finish your book in 30 days and shove it out into the world with minimal thought or editing” or companies that are churning out book after book with no substance. Or people who have AI write book after book for them and try to pass them off as their own.

By definition, creativity is something that cannot be rushed. Something I find reflective of this is what I believe was the greatest act of creation ever: the making of the universe. It’s not lost on me that God could have snapped his fingers and BOOM! Everything would have instantly fallen into perfect place in a split second. Instead, he took his time and wove everything together piece by piece.?

Any other act of creativity is no different. We could slap something together in a moment (though it would be far less than perfect), but art is supposed to take time. That’s the point. That’s part of what makes it both difficult and beautiful. Anything truly meaningful and good will have been thought over and perfected after a whole lot of time and a whole lot of love. Minola’s book might have taken much time and effort to edit and complete—but that’s only because it’s such a wonderful book that was worth every minute of it.?

I’ve talked a lot about the difficulties that I faced during this project because it’s adversity that teaches us the most, right? But the funny thing is that I don’t look back on this book like some huge chore or “Whew!! I’m glad that’s over!” It was truly a joyful, meaningful experience. When I look at the book now, all I feel is complete and utter happiness that it’s there, it’s complete, and it’s about to come out into the world.?

As a reader, you won’t see any of the challenges we faced in putting the book together. You’ll never see the rough draft or the hundreds of comments Minola and I bounced back and forth. And yet, I hope that when you finally read Everyday Inspiration for Change, you’ll feel that extra bit of magic in its pages, the massive amount of love and effort that was put into its creation. It doesn’t matter how many hours we spent polishing the manuscript; what matters is that we put out a book that matters to you. And I truly believe we have.?

Thank you, Minola, for this beautiful journey that has taught me so much and given me a friend for life!?