“Laura Kelly took my book and lovingly polished it until it shone.  I’d been concerned I might not recognise my ‘baby’ by the time we were through, but I needn’t have worried.  It was still mine – only better.  Laura merely trimmed what I now realise was ‘excess fat’ and kept my ‘voice.’” 
 Hywela Lyn, author of Starquest, and Children of the Mist

Our Clients

First of all, a big thank you goes out to our clients, past and present, who have graciously voted Laura Kelly into the top five circle of editors at Preditors & Editors for two years running.  If not for you, we here at LKES wouldn’t have the best job in the world.  Our multi-talented clients to date have included authors in the following areas: memoir, romantic suspense, suspense, vintage romance, time travel romance, paranormal, fantasy, erotic romance, women’s fiction, international thrillers, a user’s manual for a camera, a program manual for addiction recovery, Christian psychology, relationship self-help, and women’s health and wellness.

Laura Kelly

Laura Kelly has been writing and editing for nearly twenty-five years, and has been an editor with The Wild Rose Press for nearly five years.  Many of the titles she’s edited for TWRP have received Five-Star reviews. Laura loves the editing process, loves to teach, loves to help other authors achieve their dreams.  She is also published under a pseudonym, and knows how to approach the process of editing from the perspective of both an editor and a writer. She’s worked mostly in contemporary romance, romantic suspense, romantic comedy, and women’s fiction, but has also edited thrillers, fantasy, and vintage romance.  Her special interests include women’s health and wellness, spiritual/inspirational stories, psychology/self-help books, and narrative non-fiction.  She’s especially drawn to books that deal with the issues involved in growth and change, and stories with an underlying message and emotional depth.

Vicky Reed

Vicky Reed became an editor because the editorial process fascinates her. She compares editing to diamond cutting. Each pass reveals more of the latent beauty inherent in a piece. Vicky has been editing for a number of years, and is published under a pseudonym. She works mostly in women’s fiction, but she’s also strongly drawn to science fiction and fantasy, and non-fiction that reads like fiction—memoir, biography, narrative non-fiction—that explores topics of concern to women.

Jodi Henley

Jodi Henley is a long-time member of the popular on-line writer’s forum “Romance Divas,” where her craft of writing articles have been archived as downloads in The Place for Answers, Romance Diva’s on-line library. Highly sought after for her plain-English approach to problem solving, Jodi spends her time dissecting the craft of writing. Her obsessive Myer-Briggs INTJ personality drives her to explain her findings, and she considers herself lucky to have a receptive audience. A long-time blogger, her blog is a popular writer’s reference for people in fields from play-writing to Christian magazines and newspaper journalism.

Although Jodi's major areas of interest are characterization and structure, she is primarily a troubleshooter.  A popular presenter, Jodi teaches everything from organic structure to the transformational arc.
         
Workshops she has developed include:

Showing the Transformational Character Arc: A Practical Hands-on Guide to What, Why and How

Running in the Dark: Organic Structure for Character-Driven Stories

The Maltese Falcon: A Deconstruction Workshop

Prologue Structure for both Character-Driven and Plot-Driven Stories

The Big Sleep: A Deconstruction Workshop

If you would like to attend one of these workshops, or invite Jodi to present one of these workshops to your writing group or organization, please contact Laura Kelly for registration information, scheduling for your group, and price information.

Jodi also offers one-on-one story structure consultations through Laura Kelly Editorial Services.  For scheduling and pricing information, contact Laura Kelly.

Nan Swanson

Nan Swanson has been editing ever since her eighth grade classmates insisted she check their weekly essays so they’d get better grades.  Determined to be a high school English teacher, she majored in English in college (with French and history minors) and did graduate work in Irish drama and poetry, along with a dozen years of teaching a variety of subjects, including English.  She has lived and worked in various parts of the U.S. and Germany, and has traveled either in person or vicariously to many more areas of the world, but has never lost the desire to help others write well.  Nan is particularly fond of historical and vintage fiction.  In the last few years she has added formatting skills to her repertoire, in the belief that a well-written book should also be well presented.  She loves to edit and format, and we’re glad to have her on our team.