Today, I want share the mistakes I made as an editor and why those mistakes led me to create RefinEd: Polished Prose Course, our exhaustive editing course.
In my last post, I shared what a decade of editing taught me about story craft.
The Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)
Let me be honest about the learning curve.
Mistake #1: Over-Editing
Early on, I “fixed” things that didn’t need fixing. I rewrote sentences that were perfectly fine in the author’s voice merely because I would have written them differently.
I learned the hard way that editing isn’t about making the manuscript sound like you. It’s about making it sound like the best version of the author.
Mistake #2: Focusing on Craft Over Reader Experience
I used to get so caught up in technical craft—”This violates the rule of three-act structure!”—that I forgot to ask: “But does the reader care?”
Sometimes a story breaks rules and works beautifully. Sometimes it follows every rule and feels lifeless.
The reader’s emotional experience is the ultimate test. Craft is just a tool to get there.
Mistake #3: Not Teaching Authors Why I Made Changes
For years, I just marked up manuscripts and sent them back. Authors would implement my suggestions without understanding the reasoning behind them.
Then, for their next book, they’d make the same mistakes again because they hadn’t learned the principles.
That’s when I started writing detailed edit letters. Explaining not just what to change, but why it wasn’t working and how to think about similar problems in the future.
That’s when I became a teacher, not just an editor.
Why I’m Teaching This Now
Over the years, I began to realize that understanding story principle would help authors write much better stories. They need someone to teach them how to read their story as a reader would. A combination of these skills would make it easier for them to edit stories—their own and other people’s.
If you’re serious about writing, you’re going to write more than one book. Hiring an editor for every manuscript will knock a serious hole in your pocket.
The skills I’ve spent a decade learning are not some mystical voodoo magic. They’re not reserved for special people with industry connections.
They can be learned—when they are approached in a systematic way.
Once you understand them, you don’t just become a better editor—you become a better writer.
You start writing tighter first drafts. You recognize structural problems before they become massive rewrites. You understand where a scene is falling apart and how to fix it, instead of rewriting the entire chapter over and over.
You become independent.
That’s what I want for you. Not dependence on editors (including me), but confidence in your own ability to shape a story.
What I Bring to the Table
When you enroll in RefinEd, here’s what my years of experience gives you:
- Pattern Recognition I’ve seen the same story problems show up hundreds of times across hundreds of manuscripts. I can teach you to spot them in your own work.
- Genre Fluency I’ve edited literary fiction, romance, thriller, fantasy, memoir, YA—I understand how different genres work, what genre specific structures and tropes are and what the readers expect.
- The Questions That Matter Not “Is this grammatically correct?” but “Is this scene pulling its weight?” I’ll teach you to ask the diagnostic questions that reveal what’s really broken.
- Real Manuscript Practice You won’t just learn theory. You’ll edit a complete 20,000-word novella during the course, applying every technique in real time.
- A Repeatable System I’ll give you the same framework I use for every manuscript I edit—a step-by-step process you can apply to every book you write.
- The Teaching Experience I have been a coach for over thirty-five years—systems, leadership, life-skills. I don’t just know how to edit—I know how to teach others to do it.
This Isn’t About Making You an Editor (Unless You Want to Be)
Let me be clear. Primarily, this course isn’t about training you to edit other people’s manuscripts professionally (though you absolutely could, if you wanted to).
This course is about making you the best editor of your own work.
It’s about:
- Never feeling lost in revision again
- Understanding exactly why a scene isn’t working
- Having a systematic approach instead of just “rewriting until it feels right”
- Saving lakhs on professional editing for every future book
- Writing stronger first drafts because you understand story structure
- Giving and receiving feedback that actually improves manuscripts
After a decade of editing, I know what writers need. And it’s not someone to fix their commas.
It’s the confidence to trust their own editorial instincts.
That’s what I’m here to give you.
Ready to Learn?
I’ll be opening enrollment soon. In the course I’ll teach you everything I wish someone had taught me when I started out.
Developmental editing. Line editing. Structural diagnosis. Pacing fixes. Character arc construction. Scene surgery. And a repeatable system you can use for every manuscript you ever write.
You’ll edit a complete practice manuscript. You’ll leave with real skills, not just theory.
Want to be the first to know when enrollment opens?
Join The Write Place community and avail community pricing.
Let’s make you the editor your manuscript deserves.
Mother of three adult humans. An idealistic, outspoken woman of scrupulous integrity, in love with words. A storyteller who enjoys crocheting tales.
And a passionate bibliophile, of course.