I Admire...

Steve's Typewritten Manuscript

I received a package in the mail which included a typewriter-written novel from Steven Paul Wilson. I am Steve's main editor. 

I've frequently discussed with my husband that it would've been so hard to write a novel in the olden days. Before the typewriter, all novelists had to handwrite their manuscript. And, they didn't have access to a pen or pencil...just a feather quill (ha) and an inkwell. But, think about the writing process. Instead of being able to go back and delete everything and change things around by copying and pasting, the authors had to be almost perfect in their writing. I'm sure they couldn't send their manuscript to a publisher with lines through sentences and arrows pointing them where they should read next.

The typewriter was immensely better but still not as efficient as a computer.

As mentioned before, I am Steve's main editor. I answered an ad in Guru.com to be an editor for a person who is currently incarcerated. It took about a month for us to start our working relationship, negotiating terms and types of communication. Because I have the wrong type of cell phone, the prison system would not allow us to call each other, so he writes letters, I respond on JPay.com (an email reviewed by prison staff) and his mom keeps in touch with me through his phone calls to her.

I edited his novel "The Girl in the Attic," which is being sold on Amazon. When I received the manuscript from his previous editor, it was in Microsoft Word format. I got to work right away and had to get used to receiving letters as his form of communication. Funny, how we get used to just sending an email without any thought.

The reason I admire Steven Paul is that he mailed me his new manuscript. It was completely written on a used, beat-up typewriter. Since I've known him, he's gone through three typewriters on his dime. I was so impressed when I thumbed through his manuscript and found no places where he scratched things out or wrote side notes. The manuscript is also scanned as a PDF, which I then have to export into a Word document. There are some extra steps we all have to do so that he can continue to write. In his ten years in prison, he has written seven novels.

It would be easy for him to be bitter and our lives couldn't be more different, but he is one of the most positive people I've ever met. His body might be incarcerated but his spirit isn't.

You can get to know Steven Paul Wilson better through his website stevenpaulwilson.com.