• through the enactment of 236 laws and more than 8,600 local statues
• a muse house with a beday in the bathroom
• Now bake for 3540 minutes
• the chaos of battle: the canons, gas attacks and shrapnel
• Use an eclectic whisk to combine the ingredients.
• This hansom corner plot offers a versatile duel aspect
• rescue kit should include a bum dressing
• HR manager responsible for the conflict of employment
• best to give him a wide birth
• be at the fairy terminal some time around 6
•  the lunatic fridge
• an insulting layer in a building’s fabric
• to trash out the logistics for the training
• nor do we do it on propose
• those who lived pubic lives
• the gathering of manna in the dessert

With thanks to eagle-eyed members of the SfEP Forum.

Like a bridegroom, an editor carries a first-time author across the threshold from school-taught theory to book-form execution. First-time authors, until then, have read as consumers, oblivious of the conventions of publishing. Who had noticed that the first paragraph of a chapter is not indented, or that ’20th century’ is not capitalised? Who knew the flexibilities of convention? What first-time author comes with a clear idea of their own style-sheet?

Thereafter, like a chaplain, the editor provides sympathy and confidence, a listening ear and a reassuring word, neither criticising nor preaching. Seeing the half-formed body, the naked face, they must be the soul of discretion.

The author must strum the tune, while the editor hums passively, like a sounding board, bringing out the notes.

The author is the psychiatric patient, and the editor is the friendly janitor, with bucket and mop, cracking apt jokes as he swabs the padded cell.

The author is the marathon man, making all the running, only aware of the editor when an arm pops out of the gathering gloom near the finish.

Unlike a coach, an editor does not say how things should be done. The editor does not pick the author for the first eleven, or tell the author which strong points to emphasise, or decide the formation of play, or design the training sessions.

Unlike a teacher, an editor does not pretend to be perfect. Editors know that their own work needs checking. Rather than put lines through text, they ask the author’s intention. They stand ready, even delighted, to drop their own ideas, in the face of creative conviction.

Editors know what makes an author tick, but authors do not fathom editors. Since the author pays the editor, he can never be sure what the editor thinks. Flattery is always around the corner.

Likewise, because authors come and go, and one editor may look after many authors, the editor resists involvement in the author’s little crises.

But if they are lucky, editor and author will grow to trust each other, and even achieve a mutual admiration.

with thanks to Fergus Dunlop, self-published author of Borderline Pass

Corrections in italics: