Patience Bloom – Editor

After 25+ years at Harlequin, I am excited to jump into freelancing where I can focus on what I love most, which is editing and working with writers. During my tenure in publishing, I edited romantic suspense, paranormal, thriller, historical, western, Christian, rom-com, wholesome, and super-sexy romance novels. My specialty is the romance genre as a whole, but I have also delved into several other arenas—women’s fiction, general fiction, prescriptive nonfiction, and memoir—building a solid foundation as an editor and consultant for writers. In addition to editing, I have experienced the other side of the desk, writing my memoir Romance Is My Day Job (Dutton, 2014) about finding happily ever after in real life.

My expertise runs the gamut, from helping craft the perfect query letter and proposal package to doing a fairly surgical developmental edit. I can also provide thorough editorial assessments that give the writer a “big picture” view of their story along with suggestions on how to further develop the narrative. In a developmental edit, I like to ask those questions readers will wonder about and show ways to polish paragraphs and build stronger conflict, characterization, and pacing. Perhaps the most important part of editing is gauging a writer’s needs since everyone creates/writes differently. The entire process makes bookshelves exciting.

With my background, I was destined to read voraciously. I grew up traipsing around Europe with my historian parents, eventually settling in Upstate New York and Connecticut. For my BA, I attended Oberlin College, majoring in French and Latin, both of which I taught at Sandia Preparatory School in New Mexico. During my teaching career, I attended University of New Mexico for a MA in French Literature. Eventually, I moved back east and into publishing. I now live in New York City and look forward to evaluating your projects.