Let's talk a bit about editors! I'll be talking some about my specific recent experience in the #DMsGuild #TTRPG sphere, but this is also relevant to general #writing. TL;DR: Editors are great, use them! Thread:

I've done a lot of writing, from a very young age. Growing up, I was always the kid whose first draft was good enough to do well in class. I never really needed revisions (or so I thought, I was young!). This mentality lasted into adulthood, keeping me from seeking out editors.

Recently I started working with editors for #DnD writing because they knew more than me about D&D. There's a lot of specific, unique formatting in D&D and it just made sense to hire an editor rather than learn it all myself.

Furthermore, my writing style needs a sounding board. I need to talk ideas through in order to really form them! Usually I chat stories through with my wife - but for D&D, she's also a frequent playtester, so I couldn't spoil the game for her in the writing phase!

So I reached out to the #DMsGuild community and @JustThinkingKay came to my rescue. She was the first editor I'd worked with on a D&D adventure- and the first on any writing in quite some time. She worked with me on The Wizard's Assistant, which is a relatively massive adventure.

It's true that the adventure wouldn't be what it is without her. She helped me shape it from the beginning, and I'm grateful! More than just a sounding board, she helped me figure out where to take my story. I feel awful that the game isn't selling well, since she deserves the $.

Then I joined the Amarune's Adventures series, which has @RealmwarpM as the editor. For that series, I'm not leading it - I'm part of a team. The dynamic is different. Ryan helped me learn more about #DnD mechanics and was there when I needed to workshop story ideas.

I just wrapped edits with @incandescaent on a project I'll announce next week. She was the most in-depth editor I've worked with, helping me not only shape the story but tighten up *how* I tell the story. She helped rewrite huge chunks of text, always changing it for the better.

I'm very fortunate that I've gotten to work with all of these amazing editors. They're all very different! It's proof of something I didn't realize as a younger man: there's more than one editor. These 3 people edited my work in 3 different ways, and each have different styles.

But what do they have in common? They all want to MAKE A BETTER PRODUCT. They don't want my writing to fail, or to look bad. They want everything to look polished and beautiful! Trick is, it requires the humility to listen to someone smarter or more experienced than you.

I found that humility easy in the #DMsGuild community, because I'm a total n00b here. All the editors I've worked with have bestseller credits on several titles- their value was obvious. But it wasn't until working with them that I really 'got' what that value can be.

I think it's obvious, but I'm fully onboard the editor bus now. I love 'em, they're worth far more than they ever get paid. In the #DMsGuild sphere, many of them are willing to work for royalties, meaning their success is tied in with your success- an exceedingly generous offer.

You should support editors, and get one of your own for whatever #writing you're working on. I was a doubter for a long time, and now all I see is wasted time behind me. Check out Kayla's amazing DMG work here: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Kayla%20Bayens

Ryan's (very extensive) DMG work can be found here: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Ryan%20Langr

Ryan is also leading a very cool Kickstarter project to bring modern-day ideas, themes, representation, and inclusivity to mythological places: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/realmwarpmedia/cities-of-myth-5e-fallen-camelot?ref=discovery&term=cities%20of%20myth

Finally, Sadie's work can be found here. She'll be adding another title soon! Watch this space https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Sadie%20Lowry