Wonder what other people say about my editing?
Reach out to my references yourself and see more comments on my writing and editing here.
'Boundless enthusiasm'
"You always know just the right things to say at just the right moment. And just when I'm losing steam, I see your emailed comments on the chapters, and they lift my heart and give me the energy boost I need to keep going. Not only are you an extraordinarily talented writer and editor, your boundless enthusiasm, even as tedious and difficult as this book is, has been priceless. I know you refer to yourself as a word nerd. To me, you are a word angel. And I'm grateful beyond words that you wanted to and agreed to work on this with me. It's soooo much better that it was, which means it will reach so many more people at a deeper level. I'm so glad to hear you're proud or OUR creation."
'Extra, above-the-norm effort'
"You're the biggest reason this book has even seen the light of day! I watched you edit a chapter and turn it from marginal in to something special! Really! I couldn't be more proud of you and all the extra, above-the-norm effort. I mean, you are pretty special with a great talent and I just hope you sort of keep interested in working with me, because if you don't -- well, it just wouldn't be the same, and it wouldn't be great! For example, I'm sure you could take what I wrote above and wave your magic, ummmm, keyboard and BOOM! "
- Chris Berry
'The best thing I did for my book'
"The best thing I did for my book was to engage Aimee Heckel as my editor. The manuscript I presented to Aimee was completely different than my finished product. Aimee was masterful at quickly picking out the inane, the vague or boring, and making tactful suggestions to make passages read better. 'Show me, don’t tell me' was her mantra, and she wouldn’t be satisfied until my writing was more descriptive and interesting. Writing doesn’t come easily to me, and the only reason I wrote this book was to tell a story I think is important for people to know about. Aimee helped me tell my story much better than I could have by myself."
- Paige Lawrence
'She isn't like any other cookie-cutter editor'
"She edited my book and did wonderfully. She honored the education level and took the time to study the subject to edit it without compromising my work. She adapted to my voice. She was expedient and works quickly. She gets involved immersing herself into the perspective of the audience you write for and edits based on maintaining target integrity.
Be ready to get it done, as you wont be the one waiting on her for edits. Did I mention she is fast? She is efficient and asks questions to ensure she meets your expectations. She also humbly advises where proper.
Be open to being prosperous. She isn't like any other cookie-cutter editor I have worked with before."
- Jeannette Kasemir
'The most professional editor that I could imagine'
"Some time ago, I was involved in a near-fatal car-bike accident, where the car almost won. I was in terrible shape, both physically and emotionally.
"Per the advice of Aimee Heckel, I just started throwing my ideas on a laptop. She only gave me one word of advice: Write! So I wrote. Some of it was very brilliant, and I found myself beaming with pride, thinking that perhaps I was on the verge of my yet-to-be-discovered gift of writing. Other sections of the paper flowed like tar and were neither clean nor coherent, in the total context of the paper.
"As time went on, Aimee helped me polish the paper until it finally emerged as a manuscript. This being my first book ever attempted, I was excited, yet very apprehensive with my extreme lack of experience in even contemplating a book, much less publishing one.
"Aimee is an amazing coach. I use that term because her technical editing is only a fraction of what she provides. She did not toss out those otherwise incoherent 'tar balls' that I described above. Instead, she managed to weave them into a very meaningful and nicely flowing section of the book. In fact, those tar balls turned out to be some of the best parts of the book, when in actuality, I was very close to leaving them out of the book altogether.
"Aimee’s ability to draw people’s ideas out is a unique gift that I she has grown and developed over many decades of constant writing, formal teaching at universities and being actively engaged in journalism 'think tanks' across the country. I’m not sure how many books she’s edited, but mine turned out far better than A) what I expected, and B) what I could have done void of Aimee’s professionalism.
"I have yet another book in the mill at present. I’ve contracted already with Aimee to do the editing. Her editing rates are far below the market, especially given Aimee’s solid credentials and her notoriety as the Front Range’s leading journalist. This next book is still a way out, but Aimee’s sage advice to me is simply to 'let it happen when it should and AS is should.'
"This type of journalistic ennoblement spans far beyond mere editing; it is more akin to personal therapeutic coaching to effectively 'release in word art' what is inside the memory banks of one’s mind. This is her general philosophical approach, addressing one of the key aspects of the editing process. Many editors simply do the technical work and leave out this critically important coaching step. This is especially true for new authors, who may need a bit more time and help. Aimee provides this.
"After this philosophical backdrop is properly functioning and in place, her process then moves into the realm of technical editing. This involves the basic grammatical scrutiny, as well as reviewing the general flow of the book itself. In my particular example, I thought we had it all nailed down and were ready to go to press. Aimee re-read my book for the Nth time and figured out a way of re-arranging some of the content and chapters to flow even better! I was elated, to say the least.
"In the end, the book flowed better than what I had expected, and I attribute a large part of the success of this book to her astute professionalism, experience and passion for perfection! So bottom line: I highly give Aimee Heckel a five-star EXCEPTIONAL review and highly recommend her."
- Jim Heckel, President of Think Humanity.