In the spirit of full disclosure, I think it should be mentioned that John and I have known each other for a long time. John is in some of my earliest memories. He’s my uncle.
I have discovered that John is the type of person that sees the world slightly differently. And because of that, there are many opportunities to have a novel and entertaining time in John’s presence. Therefore, in my experience, if John Gooden approaches you with an idea and a request for help, you should find a way to make it work and say ‘yes’. My personal life has been greatly enriched through projects while working with John. Old friendships have been rekindled through art and theater projects and new friends add to the growing community theater group. These things began with a big push from John.

It was easy for me to agree to read John’s story. I have noticed that John mentions I returned his pages full of red marks and questions. This is how I interact with what I’m reading. I am a big believer in marking up books. Grab a pencil and fill those margins with notes! If I remember correctly, I think the first piece of feedback I gave John was, “You need to imagine your reader doesn’t know you.” The world was clearly real to him and his characters, but lacked the foundation for the readers to build the reality for themselves. I thought he was on to something, however.

The next draft John gave me, I was so impressed with the improvement. And I think it was this draft that came back with the aforementioned red ink. The foundation was being constructed!
Several weeks later, I ran into John at a birthday party. I was unsure if I had mentioned how impressed I was with his second draft, so I mentioned it, just in case. John lit up and said, “You should read it now!” Apparently, he’d been reworking his story and writing most of that time. This is when John began referring to me as his editor, and with some reluctance, I accepted the role. It’s just a personal preference. I would rather be the encouraging voice, affirming good choices, and overlooking minor faults for the sake of progress. But in my role as editor, I also had to be the person that says, ‘none of this makes sense,’ which is the literal meaning behind ‘pretend the reader doesn’t know you.’ And that’s some free advise to any other prospective authors out there

My educational background is (legitimate) theatre, so much of the creative process conversations involved what the places looked like and what characters were looking at. Of course, we also discussed character development. I think what we came to learn is that you can keep editing and changing and manipulating your creation over and over, potentially forever. In theatre, you build and rehearse. You perform the shows, strike the set, and then go about your way, leaving your product to exist in the imaginations of those who experienced it. But when you write a book, how do you know when it is done?

An Impressive and Enjoyable Experience

Hopefully, in my role as editor, I successfully encouraged John to tell his story in the most clear and entertaining way possible. His recording of the audiobook was also an impressive and enjoyable experience. I look forward to hearing the final version with the rest of the general public!
I feel that once again, I have been part of another excellent project. I am pleased for the opportunity and interested to see where we go from here