In a recent New York Times article, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., wrote, "there were creative-writing teachers long before there were creative-writing courses, and they were called and continue to be called editors." And who better to teach writing than a passionate editor with years of experience working with successful writers and discovering new voices? Betsy Lerner is such an editor -- sharp, funny, psychologically astute, and deeply intuitive. In The Forest for the Trees she shares her editorial wisdom and imparts an insider's understanding of the publishing process.
Categorizing writers within personality types -- the natural (who appears to do it effortlessly); the wicked child (with an axe to grind); the flasher (who loves to dazzle) -- she helps readers to better understand their relationship to writing. An award-winning poet and a product of writing workshops herself, Lerner understands the anxieties and concerns of writers who are just getting started.
The Forest for the Trees is filled with anecdotes from Lerner's own experiences working with writers, and
Betsy Lerner has worked most recently as executive editor at Doubleday, and is currently an agent at The Gernert Company.