I have had many editors at Amazon. There was the first Lawn and Patio editor who hired me, a funky woman with a tremendously affected speaking voice, who liked to swear and praised me for writing at the speed of lightening. After she left, she was a replaced by a meek young woman, a recent college graduate, newly-wed, very religious, and quite clueless. I started writing for other departments, inheriting an editor from the Consumer Electronics department who was (and is) prone to lose my invoices, forget to give me assignments, and take frequent sick days and vacations. When the second Lawn & Patio editor left, along came Rhonda.

Rhonda is a writer’s dream. She is responsive, attentive, and goes way above and beyond her duties when it comes to being considerate of freelancers. For example, when there was no Lawn & Patio work to be done, she recommended me to a Kitchen editor, finding work for me in another department. When my CE editor “forgot” to give me any work in May, Rhonda actually went out of her way to give me extra work. It’s not her responsibility to make up for other editor’s slackitude, but for some wonderful reason, she seems to believe in taking care of her writers–imagine that!

When I told her I was heading off to NYC this summer, she sent me a short email that said simply “Congratulations! You know you’ll always have work with us.” When I let her know I’d like to be working as much as possible in late May and June, she responded by not only piling on the work, but also ensuring that she gave me the work that PAYS the best. She and my dear friend who fronted me a loan for CPC are the ones who deserve credit for helping me get to the East Coast in a couple weeks.

So, Rhonda — I salute you! On behalf of freelancers everywhere who have had to deal with flakey editors, THANK YOU.