The Name You Haven’t Claimed by Rachelle Rea

First of all, I'd like to thank you all for voting for the cover of PURPLE MOON (releasing Sep. 24)! I really appreciate the comments you all gave and I loved hearing what you all had to say about the covers. Also, I am very happy to announce that PURPLE MOON is now available for pre-order on Amazon! Click here to visit the Amazon page. (Also go there to see which cover won!)

Speaking of dream-come-trues, I'd like to introduce all of you to Rachelle Rea. Rachelle owns a beautiful blog, Inspiring Daring, and writes articles for several online Christian magazines. She has recently achieved her dream job as a freelance editor (congrats!) and is here today to discuss what it means to pursue your dreams, as well as give away a free 10-page  edit/critique. Stick around for the end of the post to see how you could win!

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photo credit: mpclemens via photopin cc

When she first asked me to be her editor, I balked. That email sat in my inbox for close to a week while I seesawed back and forth between being honored that she would ask, wanting to say yes because I love editing, and wanting to decline because I feared I couldn’t do a good job.

For as long as I’ve been a writer, I’ve been an editor. It sorta comes with the territory. As writers, we learn early on that Louis Brandeis’s words, “There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting” are painfully true. Rereading, revising, proofreading—in essence, editing—are skills necessary for any writer. Some plod through it; others embrace it. I’m of the second camp. I enjoy picking apart a page almost as much as I love splashing words onto it.

For that reason, I’ve taken editing jobs before. I’ve critiqued friends’ manuscripts and proofread final galleys. I learned how to work on deadline and honed my editing skills. So when her email popped up in my inbox, it wasn’t that I felt inclined to say no because I had never done anything like this before.

But I had never done anything like this before. I had never called myself an editor.

Of course, just because I had never claimed it didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Just because I hesitated the first time someone called me an editor… that did not erase the fact that since I am a writer who must revise, since I enjoy proofreading, since I have taken classes on the art of rewriting, I am an editor.

What are you balking from today? What hat are you hesitant to accept? What title are you reluctant to claim? Do you enjoy writing, painting, dancing, teaching, but hold back from calling yourself a wordcrafter, an artist, a ballerina, an educator?

Go ahead, call yourself what you are. Embrace your dream. Because if you don’t, soon someone is going to name you what you are, anyway. Might as well save yourself some time!

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A homeschool graduate, Rachelle Rea studies Communications at university and coaches gymnastics at her local YMCA. She can often be found with a book, a pen, or her laptop, Merryweather. Find out what her favorite word is and more about her editing services at www.rachellerea.com.