Sashaying with Monica Dutcher: Featured Editor

I’ve worked with some great editors. Us writerly types so often struggle with that little voice…the one that tells you everything you’re doing wrong…all the reasons why you can’t. I’ve had some great experiences with editors who know just how and when to offer a little ego boost. For us writers, those little positive bumps to our egos are addictive – we’ll often go out of our way in search of more…and more…and more.

A kind word here.

A compliment there.

It’s wonderful for a writer’s ego to hear an editor say nice things about you. But, like any good addict, the high is soon drown out by that darn little voice again. That is, until someone comes along who understands that, while that quick fix feels wonderful, it’s not quite enough.

Meet My Favorite Editor, Monica Dutcher

Monica Dutcher, Executive Editor of Sashay Magazine, is one of those editors who gets it. Sure, she’ll offer a kind word now and then, when it’s warranted. But her approach to writers, at least from this writer’s experience, is different. She doesn’t just offer empty niceities to feed your ego.

Instead, Monica (and the rest of the ladies at Sashay) celebrate with you, appreciating your unique talents for what they are…the real you. She doesn’t just pump up your ego, but rather invites you to find your own reason to love you and your ability to tell a story.

As the oft-repeated author’s advice says…”show, don’t tell.”

That’s Monica. She doesn’t just tell – she shows. When discussing article assignments, she doesn’t just tell you what she wants. She shows you. She paints a picture in words, to help you understand the feeling she and the ladies at Sashay want to evoke.

What Makes Monica My Favorite Editor?

Perhaps it is her own writing talents that help her be a better editor.

Perhaps it is just her personality.

Perhaps it’s the vision of what she, Shirley, Grace and Audrey want Sashay to do…celebrate modern girl power’s ability to blend old fashioned values with new beginnings, being the real you, and chasing your dreams no matter how crazy they might seem.

Perhaps it’s a little of all of the above. Read on and decide for yourself, as Monica answers a few interview questions to help you get to know her a little better. When I emailed her the questions for this post, her response was too truly Monica for me not to include it all…even her intro. (Notice, even editors sweat their grammar )

 

 

Question: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Monica: ”An author. I would love to write a psychological thriller that is published by Random House and produced/directed by Tim Burton. It would be double pleasure to me because I would see my words in mass print and see how someone makes my text move, gives it life and visual effects.” 

Question: What are you reading right now and why did it interest you?

Monica: “Right now I am reading Good-bye to All That, by Margo Candela. I found her on Twitter and was interested in reading some chick lit because I never had before. Margo is a woman with a voice and I love how she uses her characters as instruments for that voice.” 

Question: What is a typical workday like for you?

Monica: “My workday is one big waiting game. I get up at the crack of dawn to work a 10-hour day as a tech writer (ugh) at a nuclear facility way out in the boonies. While I’m there, all I can think about is coming home and checking my Sashay Magazine email account and tending to the editorial business that I absolutely thrive on. I look forward to the day when I never have to see another technical writing assignment and can work on Sashay right after I eat breakfast.”

Question: If your life were a reality show, what would the title be and what network would air the show?

Monica: “Mind Maze, on BravoTV.”

Question: How did you land your current job, did you follow a certain career path or did it just land in your lap?

Monica: “As for my day job as a tech writer, my husband helped me get that. We actually work in the same building—that’s the only thing I love about working there. Sashay Magazine, LLC, is a publication/business I started with Shirley Bass. We both worked at Augusta Magazine—she was the art director and I the assistant editor. We quit around the same time and teamed up to follow our passion, to do a magazine our way.” 

Question: What is the hardest part about being an editor?

Monica: “Coming up with different, off-the-beaten-path content. I never want Sashay to be ‘just another women’s magazine.’ Sashay has to touch women in a way that the mainstream isn’t; Sashay has to be a lifestyle, a resurrection of past values mixed with progressive thinking. It’s a hard niche to carve in the vortex of information overload, but it’s worth the fight.” 

Question: Do you have editor-ish pet peeves? What are they?

Monica: “I don’t like reports, or robotic lists of what a travel destination has to offer. Reporters are not the same breed of writers as, well, writers, composers of the language.” 

Question: If you could live your life as a family pet, what would you be? Why?

Monica: “A cat. They do what they want and I love their confident attitude. I also wish my back was as flexible.” 

Question: What sort of things do you look for in a writer?

Monica: “I look for a writer who composes from the heart, who isn’t afraid to take risks with purposeful sentence fragments or daring adjectives.”

Question: If you had to pick one thing you wished more writers would do, what would it be?

Monica: “This is a note to the travel writers: Write something that makes me smell, feel, and hear. Readers aren’t piqued by the fact that a fancy hotel has 500 rooms equipped with kitchenettes, Internet, and king beds. They want to know about what goes on at the piano bar; they want back story on the design and artwork implemented and used throughout; they want to know if room service leaves strawberries on your bed.” 

Question: If your child/younger sibling/niece or nephew came to you and said “I want to be a writer,” what would you say?

Monica: “Only in being a writer will you learn things about yourself and others that you never imagined. Be ready for tears of laughter, joy, sadness, dejection, shock and delirium. They say, “Don’t be a writer if you want to make a lot of money.” But writing is not measured in money. If you are determined, you can not only make a living but also have a life.” 

Question: You hit the lottery for several million. What’s the VERY first thing you do?

Monica: “Quit my day job as a tech writer. Hands down.”

You can find Monica over at Sashay Magazine - http://www.sashaymagazine.com. If you’re brave enough (and you should be – Monica and the other ladies of Sashay are wonderful to work with – really!) you can get in touch with her and see what’s coming up on the Sashay editorial calendar. Come on…don’t be chicken…check out Sashay, see what it’s all about, then email Monica (monica@sashaymagazine.com) your ideas for an article. Seriously…you’ll be glad you did.

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