Innovative Editing

Looking for my business qualifications? Just click here or scroll down.

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If you're interested in knowing exactly why I'm going to treat your manuscript or copy with respect and careful consideration, keep reading...

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My name is Jeannette DiLouie, and I was genuinely born to read and write.

 

I don’t know how old I was when I first realized how much I loved the written word. But I was apparently four when I turned into an official bookworm, learning how to read just so I could take in more stories.

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At age six, I wrote my own: a tale filled with treasure maps and piles of gold. That's when something clicked inside me, and I knew I’d found my calling. I was going to be an author. Maybe a cowgirl, nurse, teacher or missionary too. But definitely an author.

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Of that, I was certain.

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Unlike the cowgirl dream, that certainty didn’t fade as I grew up. So I wrote another kid’s book when I was eight, a novelette at 14, and a full-length novel manuscript at 17 or 18. (I'm too old now to remember exact details.)

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That’s not to say they were all good stories. In fact, some of them were downright dreadful. But even those experiences sharpened my writing abilities, ultimately teaching me what not to do as much as anything else.

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I started another novel-length manuscript while I studied abroad in England, then began a third after I got a mind-numbing, dead-end temp job out of college, filled with ignorant colleagues and very little to do. Bored and unfulfilled, I decided to tell the tale of a college grad... who was stuck at a dead-end temp job filled with ignorant colleagues and very little to do.

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The story took literary flight within two chapters, morphing from something autobiographical into something fantastical. With just a couple clicks on my keyboard, my protagonist transformed into a Scottish faerie princess with an identity so secret even she didn’t know who she genuinely was.

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That manuscript would go on to become Not So Human, the first in my Faerietales series, though I wouldn’t actually publish it for seven years. During that in-between time, I busied myself working and reworking various drafts while also creating new stories, such as:

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• To Err Is Faerie – a sequel to Not So Human, since I’d unexpectedly left it on a cliffhanger
   

• The Adulteress – my interpretation of the Bible story about the woman caught in adultery who Jesus rescued from stoning
   

• The Politician’s Pawn – an attempt to productively channel my irritation with Republican and Democrat politicians who focus on themselves instead of their constituents
   

• Maiden America – the historical fiction story about the Revolutionary War I’d known I wanted to write since I was 16.

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There were other sequels that came along, even when I was determined they wouldn’t – another Faerietales story and then a fourth, two more political thrillers, and a historical fiction follow-up – all while I was working nine and a half years as a professional editor at a financial publishing company.

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I learned a lot at that company, for which I’m very grateful. But it wasn’t where my heart was. My passion was for storytelling. That and helping others tell their own stories.

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Admittedly, that second part took a while to dawn on me. It came to light over the course of several years and many conversations with would-be writers who had intensely interesting manuscript ideas but nothing written down.

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I found that to be a shame.

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So I set out to do something about it, forming Innovative Editing in 2013 on the premise that if you genuinely want to write fiction or non-fiction books, then you should be genuinely writing fiction or non-fiction books.

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I’ve heard people argue that it’s not so simple. But what if it could be? What if you're just lacking a proper mentor?

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You see, all those conversations I had about all those unwritten stories shared a common theme: Each and every one of them was missing some combination of guidance, encouragement or commitment.

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And those are all issues I can help with.

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When it comes to guidance, I’ve been there and done that. Brainstorming, outlining, first-draft writing, manuscript editing, proofreading, publishing… I understand the process of what it takes to turn story ideas into full-fledged novels and non-fiction works.

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If it’s editorial encouragement you need, then that’s what you'll get here. I won't push my opinions on you or your manuscript. Instead, I’ll show you where you went right and how to strengthen areas that need improvement.

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As for your commitment levels – the amount of time you have or think you have to devote to your publishing dreams – you might be surprised at how many minutes a day are actually up for grabs.

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That's what I bring to the table. That’s my genuine story. How about yours?

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Tell me about it at jdilouie@innovativeediting.com!​
 

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