Today is the fourteenth in a series of posts by San-Diego-based writer Thomas Shess who has decided to keep a journal on his journey to find a publisher for his novel.

THE ZOO*: Week 14

Doctor in the House. This past week I assisted moderating a chat room discussion on the value of Book Editors in the Bulletin Board section of MB Tool Kit. Many people participated and the posted comments fell generally into two camps. Those who believed for-fee book editors are important to craft and direct a novel and those who argued that a good writers group will give the same results at a fraction of the cost. Plenty of good solid info came forth. The forum helped me make a decision. I hired a book editor today. If you're interested in reading a lively chat on book doctors please click here.

Meeting My Editor. Wow, I love the sound of that. San Diego-based book editor Mike Sirota has agreed to work with me on my first novel. I could tell you how much I paid, but let's make this interactive. Click on to Mike's web site and call up the section on his "fees." He has a formula to calculate how much he charges so there aren't any surprises. To find out how much I paid use his formula and note my novel is 80,000 words. And, my novel--dressed like first day at Kindergarten--was delivered to his doorstep yesterday at 10:30 am (but who's counting?). He said he will begin my project on October 17. Eyes and fingers are duly crossed.

Rookie Demands. You'll note I repeat that I am a novice novelist each week. This is to short cut any critics out there that think I'm posing as a literary expert. I'm not. Green as grass. I'm no different than the zillions of us out there who stare with amazement at the labyrinth called trying to publish your work in the year 2005. I share with you the wish list that I handed my book editor:

Dear Doctor. What I'd like to come away with after discussing my novel with you is simply what parts of my novel are professional-grade writing and please let me know what is bad, cornball, dreary, overwrought, cliché-ed or all of the above. Hmmm, don't we all get naked when we pay a visit to a physician? OK, we're naked here. I also want to know what genre to place my novel. Mystery. Mainstream. Thriller. Genre Mystery. Help! As a career journalist, I found it very difficult to write fiction in first person. In my current work was I able to carry the storyline in third person?

Which one is better? Also, do I have too many characters? My novel focuses on the ruling clique in San Francisco (actually any city) and many of the characters are like minded. Have I given each of my characters individuality and offered some measure of universal truth in their portrayal? And, will the Padres make it to the World Series?

Back to Book Doctors. As the group moderator on the aforementioned Bulletin Board I posed a question asking if any one out there would like to recommend a book editor to please post the editor's name. Got a big zero response on that idea. In fact, one person said she spent her whole writing career cultivating her contacts and was not going to post their names, especially without their permission. Smug, but a point to be considered. Next, I modified my request to ask if websites of book editors might be cool to post. After all, the Internet is public domain and if a book editor wished to be anonymous then certainly they wouldn't create a public access web site, eh? I asked David Boyne, editor of a feisty writer's mag and web site called Word/San Diego. He agreed to be quoted in The Zoo* "...I think your idea of posting the editors and including their links is excellent, so folks with any interest can check them out on their own."

Darwin Lives. Here's a random selection of book editors I found on the Internet-picked totally at random-to give anyone interested a starting point on the road to better understanding how book editors work (comments in parenthesis are mine):
(the home page of this site is terrific).

(gets to the point fast)

(looks like he focuses on plays)

(this is more for articles).

Method Writing. I'm writing this column with a cup of green tea nearby. I was on AOL's Web MD earlier and read the following "...There's an antioxidant in green tea that may prevent the gradual brain damage seen with Alzheimer's disease..." I forgot why I mentioned that. Actually, I tease because I am sensitive to the disease having a mom that lost her memory at age 72 or 73 and she's now 88. Happy birthday, Mom. She always had a cup of green tea in the afternoon when I came home from school.

Next week in The Zoo* How green tea helped me lick writer's block.

* Because it's a jungle out there.