Today I finished the first edits of book four in my Oceanographer Mara Tusconi mystery series. So it’s time to kick back and celebrate with a glass of wine, right? Alas, not at all. As any author knows very well, this might be the beginning of the end, but it’s certainly not the actual dénouement.

My nearly-a-year-in-the-making draft now goes to the editor. When I finally get it back I’ll need that glass of wine for an entirely different reason.

It’s not that the editor dislikes my writing. Not at all. She’s very supportive. But an editor’s job is to “correct errors and ensure clarity and accuracy”—and she does. “You said this there and now you say this here”, she tells me, and “This doesn’t make sense”.

And I thought, given my scientific training, that logic and “making sense” would come pretty easily. Note to self from Canadian author Robin Sharma: “Mastery begins with humility”.

The editor also ferrets out my occasional misuse of punctuation. For example, I remain confused about the Oxford comma. Is it correct to say “My favorite sports are kayaking, skiing, and running” or “My favorite sports are kayaking, skiing and running,”? (I think you just need to be consistent).

After the last editing event, I bought a grammar guide I’d recommend: “The Best Punctuation Book, Period” by June Casagrade. Gotta love a grammar book with a sense of humor.

In addition to the text, there’s the cover. Happily, the designer understands my work and comes up with great visuals. But I’ve learned that I overlook obvious mistakes in images—like omission of the apostrophe in my name—so I ask a graphic artist friend to review the draft cover.

Finally, there are what editors call “praise” but the rest of us know as endorsements or maybe blurbs. Watch someone pick up a new book, and you’ll realize that the back cover is at least as important as the front. Most people study the front for a moment and then turn the book over and scan the endorsements. Good ones are written by well-known, relevant authors and give readers a sense of the book.

One very busy Maine Crime Writer wrote an endorsement for my last book (thank you Barbara Ross), and I will approach another for the new one (hope you have time, Darcy Scott!).