We were lucky to catch up with Lisa McCoy recently and have shared our conversation below.
Lisa, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
When I tell people about my life choices, I get responses that vary from “You’re crazy” to “You’ve inspired me.” Even though I didn’t think of myself as a risk taker when making those choices, those responses made me realize that I take risks. I left college twice to travel and try out other cities, I commuted across the Bay Bridge on a motorcycle, I moved to a cabin in the mountains to manage a fine art co-op, and most recently I left a corporate job of 26 years to be self-employed as a freelance editor of fiction and non-fiction. The honest reason behind taking these risks: I was running. Away from a life path I wanted to change. Toward a life different. By running away, I discovered my strength. By running toward, I discovered my calling.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I love helping people turn their writing dreams into reality! I provide a variety of editing services—developmental editing, line/copy editing, proofreading, beta reads—to help writers ready their manuscript for publishing. I seek to connect with each writer’s voice and purpose. My goal is to help authors give their readers a story they’ll want to read to the last word.
Working with an editor is all about enhancing the readability of your writing. A good developmental editor will preserve your writing style, smooth the flow, and help weave the threads of the story pulled from your mind onto the page. A line/copy edit focuses on word selection, consistency, point of view, verb tense, and crutch language. A professional proofread will put the grammatical polish on your manuscript before it is published.
I am so proud of all the authors I’ve worked with, many who have written award-winning books! I am thrilled to be an editor on the 2023 ThrillHers anthology, which contains ten thriller stories of strong women in isolated locations written by members of the Women’s Thriller Writers Association led by Sonja Dewing. I feel magical to be the editor for my favorite artist-turned-author, Jamin Still, who recently published the second book in his Hibaria young adult fantasy series. And I got to rock the edit for the award-winning Katy Hammel for her Meg and the Rocks, a young adult historical fiction set in New Mexico during WWII, a follow up to Katy’s delightful debut novel, Meg Goes to America.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The things we like to do, such as our hobbies, can give us unique abilities that may go ignored or be sidelined in deference to our formal education and paying jobs. Look to your flow activities (activities that you find intrinsically rewarding) for qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that can be impactful in your journey, whether that be for a creative life or for creating your own paycheck. For me, being an avid reader from a young age, learning and expressing my creativity style, and my passion for being around and supporting artists all gave me the perfect qualities, skills, and knowledge for becoming a freelance editor.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
So many books and authors have shaped me! When I re-read certain authors discovered in my teens and twenties, I find myself exclaiming, “So that’s where I got that life philosophy from!” Okay, I’ll pick one book: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. Amongst the many nuggets of wisdom found in this book, here is one of my primary takeaways: Our similarities connect us and our differences invite us to connect. Also, I heard it in this book first: It is the journey that matters. And finally, the message behind the book’s title: Light and darkness journey hand-in-hand, two sides of the same coin, like so many things in life that seem opposite but are in fact quite similar.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lisamccoyediting.com
Image Credits
Lisa McCoy
