Being an editor and an author

'It makes me a much kinder editor because I understand the egotistical life of the author much more. On the other hand, it makes me more nervous because I am so aware of all the things that can go wrong. Also you must have a certain level of 'drivenness' to be an author, and therefore you are very sensitive to criticism. As a publisher, you think: 'Will all my colleagues laugh? Will this novel even get published? To write with any kind of confidence and momentum and happiness you need to forget that the outside world exists - and I can hear it yelling in my head, talking about 13-digit ISBNs.'

Charlotte Mendelson in the Bookseller