Sunday Night With John: My Editor, My Friend

My Editor, My Friend

John Paul Derryberry

I chuckle when people pound their chests and say stuff like, "I built this myself," or "I alone created this". It's never about one person. And, it's not usually about the person out front. Sure they had the idea, the drive and the passion, but more often than not, the story of success is written by the out-of-the-limelight actors. It's always about the people who give up their time to help others grow. It's no different here with my message and my speaking. My message started with a nudge from my brother that I was capable of becoming a public speaker. It grew with the help of friends willing to donate their time for web and print design. It jumped with the influx of my wife's artistic ability. Today, I find myself with the most significant number of engagements in a year and growing readership on my Sunday Night with John blog posts. 

For the last two-plus years there has been a silent partner in my blog — a woman who until last week when she hosted my wife and me for a Friendsgiving, I had not met, but she has had a profound impact on my writing.  Sheilah, whom had I corresponded with through emails and phone calls, but not in person. Out of her mutual connection with me and her desire to improve and sharpen my writing skills, she offered to edit my blogs. She wanted no money in return, as long as I promised to improve my writing by listening to her suggestions.  She once told me, I believe in what you are trying to do for the community and if I can help, I should. 

She has found a way to needle me about my writing in a way that makes me improve. I have treated spelling and grammar as an afterthought most of my life. I'm the guy who in college received the same feedback on every paper, B-minus would have been an A with a good grammar check. I would shrug and say, cool, a B-minus. Sheilah talked about editing the same way I discuss story-telling. Her passion for crafting a phrase in a way where the reader can glean your meaning is the same passion I carry for how a well-timed joke can turn a story on a dime.  It was a painstaking process for her. She once spent 8 hours editing a blog of mine; she brings it up often.  When I turn in a lousy blog now, she crackles on the phone about how I'm no longer a two-bit lazy writer and that I need to get my stuff together. I nod in agreement. 

We all need people in our lives that decide to assist us out of their belief in us. Pastors need people to show up Sunday morning, or they are just a guy or gal screaming about God to no one. Politicians need campaigners, or they are just the person in your office break room ranting about taxes.  Storytellers need people to show up to read or listen to their stories. For two-plus years my editor, Sheilah, has made me a better storyteller. That's what we should ask of everyone in our lives, make us better, challenge us, and if you are lucky enough, you become friends along the way. 

When I started this journey at age 23, I wanted to change the world into a more emotionally inclusive place, which I have accomplished. What I didn't expect was to have so much of that change occurring within me. Sheilah is another example of a person whom I didn't see coming in my life, but I'm a better man for it. I hope this blog, dedicated to acknowledging her hard work to improve me, didn't take her hours to edit because that would be embarrassing. Maybe that's the biggest thing Sheilah has instilled in me, be just as embarrassed by lousy writing as I am I when I give a bad talk. Only a friend with the correct message could hammer that point into me.