Michelle Rosquillo - Editor

I value the written word highly as the best effective mode of creative expression, interpersonal communication, and exploration of possibility. My editorial work has helped bring success to authors of long- and short-form fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and experimental genre blends. Some of my professional passions include exquisitely crafted syntax, perfectly placed line breaks, and the Oxford comma. On a more personal note, I love tea and Broadway musicals, am a stubbornly optimistic hobby gardener, and routinely subject myself to the whims of two cats and two dogs.

I am always wholly engaged in the book I am editing--my communication with the author is constant, prompt, and can span hours of real-time conversation wherein we closely examine nuances of style, tone, and diction together. I make it a point to have a quick turnaround for each stage of editing, keenly aware that time is currency in the professional literary world. Though I consider myself an expert editor and reader, I respect the author as artist: the end product will always reflect the author's creative autonomy and vision.

An example of a book I am proud of, wherein I was dedicated to helping the author perfect the characters' voices, streamline the narrative, and tighten the plot, is Mandy-Suzanne Wong's *Drafts of a Suicide Note* which was published in 2019 with Regal House. This internationally acclaimed mystery/thriller set in Bermuda was a 2020 IPPY award winner, made the Santa Fe Writers' Project Literary Award shortlist as well as the semifinals for the Conium Review Book Prize, and was a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award, American Book Fest’s Best Book Award, the Eyelands Book Award, the Permafrost Book Prize, and the International Book Award.