I began my editing career as a magazine editor (I worked at Horticulture Magazine for 11 years), then graduated to writing and editing books as a contractor.

Coupled with my honed editing skills, the fact that I have written books of my own makes me well-qualified to guide other books into publication. I know how to organize and outline a book project, I am adept at "keeping all the balls in the air," and I am both sensitive and firm when the need arises to do some author-hand-holding and rethinking or rewriting. The technical and less-glamorous aspects of book production--making and revising book maps, editing/writing to fit, conducting additional necessary research or fact-checking, working with appropriate artwork and the book-design/layout team, final page-proofing--all of this, I manage with skill. All of this, plus: deadlines are always met!

Here are some of the books I have edited/ project managed over the years:

• Gardening Basics For Dummies by Steven A. Frowine and The National Gardening Association (Wiley Publishing, 2007)
  
• New England Gardener's Resource: All You Need to Know to Plan, Plant, and Maintain a New England Garden (Regional Gardener's Resource) by Jacqueline Heriteau, Holly Hunter Stonehill, Liz Ball, and James Fizzell (Cool Springs Press, 2010)
  
• Texas Gardener's Resource: All You Need to Know to Plan, Plant, and Maintain a Texas Garden (Regional Gardener's Resource) by Dale Groom, Dan Gill, Steve Dobbs, and James Fizzell (Cool Springs Press, 2010)
  
• The Weather-Resilient Garden: A Defensive Approach to Planning & Landscaping by Charles W. G. Smith (Storey Publishing, 2004)
  
• Pruning Made Easy: A Gardener's Visual Guide to When and How to Prune Everything, from Flowers to Trees (Storey's Gardening Skills Illustrated Series) by Lewis Hill (Storey Publishing, 1998)