Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: grateful
  • Music: Brett Dennen, 'Ain't No Reason.'

Proofreader spotlight: Vixy.

I have a lot of people who work very hard for me in the salt mines of my fiction, laboring under a never-ending burden of misplaced commas, inaccurate blocking, this sentence no verb, and completely missing clauses. They are all wonderful. Both by default -- volunteering to proofread for me makes them wonderful -- and in the actuality of the awesome work that they deliver. Seriously, they rock me.

And then there is Vixy.

Most of my proofreaders sleep at night confident in the knowledge that I won't begin instant-messaging them with editing questions at eight o'clock in the morning. Not Vixy. Most of my proofreaders know that there's little chance of my showing up on their doorstep demanding clarification of an editorial point. Not Vixy. She puts her life on the line every day, so that I can turn in a better book.

Every proofreader has their own strengths and weaknesses, and Vixy is, without a doubt, the single best blocker I've ever had the pleasure of working with. She always knows where everyone is standing, and has managed to catch blocking errors that required me to get out a bunch of dolls and recreate the scene. Her tireless efforts and boundless patience are so genuinely peerless and incredible that there simply aren't words for how much I appreciate them.

Plus, she harasses me if I don't finish chapters. And that's a valuable service for everyone. All hail Vixy! All hail.
Tags: i love my editors, proofreading, vixy
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  • 27 comments

miintikwa

October 13 2008, 02:37:32 UTC 8 years ago

Hail!

Where can I find a Vixy? Can she clone herself?

seanan_mcguire

October 13 2008, 02:51:53 UTC 8 years ago

I found a Vixy through coincidence, chance, and mutual friends. Not a reliable method, sadly, but the only one I've got.

I'm afraid you can't have my Vixy. She's already tightly booked.

miintikwa

October 13 2008, 02:53:17 UTC 8 years ago

I know how that goes. I'll just have to pray that I'm lucky in my first readers. So far I have a good group. I am particularly blessed with grammar geeks. Grammar geeks FTW!

seanan_mcguire

October 14 2008, 00:51:36 UTC 8 years ago

Oh, they are worth their weight in adjectives.

miintikwa

October 14 2008, 01:05:18 UTC 8 years ago

I very much agree! I've had many sentences saved by my grammar geeks and I couldn't be happier about it.

seanan_mcguire

October 23 2008, 05:37:39 UTC 8 years ago

Without them, we would be a great deal less articulate, it's true.