Featured Edit: The Supporting Class

What inspired you to seek out editorial support?

I sought out editorial assistance/proofreading because writing poetry in my own voice was easy, but making it clear what I wanted to say to others was harder. This way, I didn’t have to journey into the world of publishing and sharing alone.

Why did you choose The Intuitive Editor to help you with your book?

The Intuitive Editor has been a good friend of mine for many years. She has proven to be creative, generous, and kind, and I knew that she was the right person to trust with works precious to me. Everything posted on her Instagram shows that she is the type of person I wanted feedback from.

What was your favorite aspect of working with The Intuitive Editor?

I appreciated the emotional response The Intuitive Editor provided! She was able to tell me how my writing made her feel and that helped me stay motivated. I also learned a lot about grammar I didn’t quite understand before and that was wildly helpful.

In what way do you feel The Intuitive Editor helped you most?

I feel like she showed me how to use my own intuition to figure out where “proper grammar” was necessary in poetry and where I could do as I wished for creative reasons.

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As someone with a past of being prolific in writing poetry (more than a year of writing a poem every day) and who studied the format extensively in college, I was so excited when the opportunity to work on a collection of poetry arose.

What I love about poetry is that every little thing can be an intentional choice, and sometimes that means using a line break instead of a comma or period or omitting punctuation altogether. I also love how wordplay is part of the poetic game.

It was fun to point out opportunities to play with these aspects to add further dimension and intrigue—to draw the reader into the intended meaning (or contrariwise, make them ponder it further). The poet gets to make the call for what they want—just like any other author!

It was a pleasure to work with Suzette! I was honored & delighted when they first came to me to help with their book of poems. I loved finding pieces Suzette wrote I deeply related to (there were a lot!) while I helped them frame and order the poems in a way that added a dynamic flow to the book as a whole.

Thanks for your kind words, Suzette, and for trusting The Intuitive Editor with your poetry! Wishing you all the best on your publishing journey and beyond!