The Editor

As Organizer of the Conejo Valley Writers group in Southern California, Marcia Smart has been involved in editing and critiquing various genres of submissions for over seven years. Honing her skills offering editing services to online groups, she discovered her joy in helping others who are just starting their writing journey, as well as experienced writers looking to fine tune their work.

Personally, Marcia has been writing for over twenty-five years in several different genres including satires and musicals. She considers herself a humorist by nature and has written considerably in this style for many years.

In the past, Marcia blogged at SmartsSnippets.com and earned recognition in the Erma Bombeck International writing contest. She is currently working on a humorous memoir of her romp through Europe, back in the day.

A retired Interior Designer, Marcia has authored DIY books, e-books and training materials for the industry, as well as having featured stories in three anthology books.

Marcia’s latest writing foray has been into Crime Fiction, and her book Constant Killer can be found on Amazon in paperback or e-book format.

Testimonials

She’s a blast to work with!

“Recently, I was fortunate to have a best-selling memoir and frankly, I owe a lot of its success to Marcia Smart. She takes editing to the next level. Not only did Marcia quickly spot my spelling and punctuation errors, she made solid suggestions that resulted in sharper and more concise writing. She knows that a quality editor works as a team with the author and she’ll do everything in her power to improve your chances of success. And oh yeah, she’s a blast to work with!”
Ken Davis – California
Author, “In Bed with Broadcasting”

She’d go above and beyond …

“Marcia’s an amazing editor. She’d go above and beyond to help your MS reach its full potential. I remember how she restored faith in my own short story that went on to get published in a literary magazine. She didn’t stop at giving constructive criticism and compliments, but discussed them with me in depth. I felt like with every edit or comment, I learned something new about myself, or about writing. Even when the draft was at an early stage, she still gave insightful, helpful comments I would’ve never reached this place if not thanks to you. Thanks for the time you put in it.”
Mouad Bozari – Morocco

I can’t thank her enough.

“A good editor makes all the difference. Working with Marcia was amazing. She was organized, hard-working, and fast. She kept in contact with me through the entire editing process, and her suggestions were creative and honest. Marcia had the insight to understand my style and my characters and worked to keep the story true to my vision. She transformed my manuscript into a polished novel. I can’t thank her enough.”
Dave Schultz – Illinois

She’s a gift to all the authors out there.

“I recently ventured into short fiction. Among the hurdles I faced were grammar, punctuation, and syntax. Despite trying to fix them, I was stuck somewhere in the middle. This is where Marcia came in. An editor par excellence, Marcia is an absolute joy to work with. Thanks to her eagle eye, she carefully combed through my draft and rectified the myriad errors I had overlooked. Her professionalism and perfectionism are unparalleled. So, if you’re a writer who wants to polish your draft before taking the next step, I can’t recommend Marcia enough. She’s a gift to all the authors out there.”
Adrian David

I gladly recommend her.

“Marcia was kind and professional when she helped me with my debut novel. Her editorial feedback strengthened and polished my book to the best of its ability and I gladly recommend her to fellow writers.”
Skylar H. – Kansas

Her assistance has improved the quality of my work.

“For the past two years, Marcia has edited and mentored my works in progress, including a novel, short stories and flash fiction.

“Her perceptive comments on grammar, sentence structure, plot and character development were direct and useful. She has a sharp eye for the physical interaction of characters with each other and their surroundings, a keen ear for consistency and tone in dialogue, and a knack for developing, clear, unencumbered narrative prose. She provided useful advice on structure and pacing, in some cases re-writing sentences and paragraphs.

“In matters of plot, she has an uncanny knack for hitting on the most critical points, raising questions that helped me clarify what I was trying to accomplish, often bringing me back into line when I had wandered off. She has been steadfastly encouraging and at times, gently cautioning.

“Overall, her suggestions have helped me to refine characters, sharpen conflict, increase clarity and tighten sentence structure. Without question, her assistance has improved the quality of my work and made me a better writer.”
Bruce Smith – Canada
PAPERBACK
EBOOK

The Book

TWO Serial Killers: The Chicago PD is in an uproar. The Exterminator is lacing street drugs with rat poison, and the bodies are piling up. But there’s another killer eliminating people across the country who’s flying completely under the radar.

TWO Investigators: Narcotics officers, Danni D’Anna and Declan Maguire, are temporarily assigned to Homicide to help solve The Exterminator cross-over case. Despite their plans to move up the ranks together, only one of them will be promoted to Detective when the case is closed.

TWO Affairs: Caught in her web of sexual tension and deception, Danni and Declan are unaware the killer has set her sights on them, and she’ll do whatever it takes to stay close long enough to pull off the biggest coup of her killing career—eliminating a police officer…or two.

ONE Outcome: When Danni finds herself matching wits with two killers, it’ll take every ounce of courage she can muster to quash the childhood insecurities that thwart her determination to outmaneuver both The Exterminator and The Constant Killer.

If you enjoy my book, please consider posting a review on Amazon or a recommendation on Goodreads. And feel free to recommend to any of your crime fiction reading friends.

Grab a copy of my book, available in paperback or ebook on Amazon.