Did you know that most editors are also writers?

Editors love words, and while we love the words of others, we also like to put them together to create our own works. Several people I know from my professional editing organizations have written novels. I think that is awesome. Others have written nonfiction books—equally awesome.

I have written an unfinished novel that is in desperate need of a developmental editor, and I am waiting for more money to come into my bank account so that I can hire one. Then I can finish the novel and hopefully self-publish.

In the meantime, I have been writing things like short stories when I am not editing. There is a creative streak in me that really needs to be released once in a while.

“But what are you writing that people actually read?” you ask.

I am writing the newsletter for the condo community where I live. The community is called Talbots II and the newsletter is called The Talbots II Times. Most of the content consists of reminders of the community rules. I spent six years on the community’s Board of Directors, and during this time I got a lot of feedback from the other Board members regarding what to address in the newsletter. I also lifted some content from the (huge) packet of condo regulations, including what kinds of dog breeds are not allowed on the property: American Pit Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, or any dog cross-bred with any of these breeds. Whew! What a list!

My newsletter, which I formatted and wrote myself from scratch, has been praised by the Board members and our property manager, and I was asked to keep making it even after I stepped down from the Board. Thus far, I write one every fall and every spring, although much of the content is the same from letter to letter. This is because the same violations keep coming up.

If you are an editor, what do you like to write?