Six months ago, I was invited on a new adventure. A dozen friends in my writers’ group wanted to publish an anthology and needed an editor. At the time the idea was made of talk and hope and dreams. Someone had to swirl those thoughts into book form. When the publisher asked me to be the Editor-in-Chief, I gave it careful consideration as I always do when I add a major time commitment to my full schedule. My first thought, as an engineer, is that I’d need a big spreadsheet. My second thought was more wispy: how to heard so many cats.
I have no fear of a challenge and I already very carefully organize my time to maximize my use of every minute I’m lucky to live. And I love new adventures, even as an old woman (well, not that old). I recently learned to play piano, ran a half marathon, baked twenty pies in a year, overcame my fear to cannonball into the lake (I do plug my nose). I’m Grammy to five new humans. I even read the news every day. That’s exciting.
The timeline was short: publication in just six months and our writers were just beginning to write fresh (or revise old) stories. Some had never been published, had never undergone the often gut-wrenching editing process, or faced the feeling of “oh, no, I have to work on this again? I thought we were done.” And some did not even know what Track Changes are. The learning curve would be steep. So, I asked the publisher for clarification of my authority and responsibility, along with the goal of publication. Did they just want a published collection of whatever each writer wanted to submit, or would I have authority to decide what was included and push the editing until each piece met that standard? I was assured I’d have that authority. Knowing the deep and complex writing skills of this group, the beautiful variety of their writing voices, and how much I enjoy working with them in our meetings, I agreed to edit, with the goal of producing a polished diamond of an anthology.
The Heartbeat of Quiet Streets is just that gem I envisioned, but even more beautiful. The pieces produced by our writing team of ten are all so different. There are a few poems sprinkled in among long and short stories of fiction and nonfiction. Our stories can shake your heart in fear and provide the relief of humor. I am so proud of our writers and their unique stories and hope you will give our book a look. It is FREE for five days on Kindle right now until April 25. Free is the best way to taste something new. Share the link and help us get the word out to the world about our collection. And if you love it like I do, the paperback will be available on Amazon in about a week.
lauralanni 