We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rebecca Hartwell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rebecca below.

Rebecca, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I want my legacy to be one of helping others create theirs. Legacy is a big part of why many aspiring writers become authors, and I want my legacy to be one of being the quality foundation on which a thousand others flourished. I believe that great stories change lives, both for the writer and their readers, in profound, tangible, and potentially eternal ways. I hope to build a legacy of helping authors with struggling stories to hone and craft them into exceptionally impactful stories that do just that.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a reader, writer, hobby collector, and above all, a passionate, invested, and detailed developmental editor. I specialize in fantasy, which isn’t surprising given that my love for both reading and writing the genre is what got me started helping other writers to see what is and isn’t working well in the macro elements of their stories. Through the developmental editing I do, sometimes called structural or content editing, I help authors see where their strengths are, what could be improved to better satisfy and hook readers, and guide them to find solutions or alterations that will strengthen the story without losing anything that makes it unique and vibrant. I am incredibly proud of every writer I’ve worked with who put in the hard work of self editing, and the emotional storm of releasing their story to the world. I strive to be a valuable member of their team, and will always be their biggest cheerleader.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I got started by doing free critique swaps with other writers. I was lucky enough to find and start some amazing groups for that through social media, and stay active in them even now to give back to the community. I’d never considered writing or editing as a career despite coming from a family legacy of journalism, largely because I was unschooled growing up and never took my own stories that seriously.
Then, in late 2019 and early 2020, I hit my rock bottom. The pandemic was just the icing on top of my best friend passing away, escaping domestic abuse, and really bad mental health. But right at the bottom, when I was literally saying goodby to my friends, the fact that I had nothing to lose finally clicked into a different perspective for me. If I had nothing to lose, then I had no reason to not take risks. So I changed my name, moved, quit my job, and pursued writing full time.
When I did, I quickly realized how steep the learning curve of not just writing, but writing WELL, would be. I started devouring books, courses, podcasts, and more on the topic, and passed along what I learned to the people I was critiquing for each month. I developed my processes, what I delivered the authors I read for, and how I did so to the point where I was being specially requested.
In July of last year I decided to get serious about doing what I was good at more professionally and started Hart Bound Editing! It was indescribably exciting and a little surreal to get my first paid client. I’ve now had the privilege of developmentally editing for dozens of authors, and have been overwhelmed by the positive feedback I’ve gotten from them.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

So many! Authors are honestly inundated by resources if they really go looking, and I’ve yet to find even a single one that doesn’t have some little nugget of gold to offer. For writing, some of my top recommendations are ‘The Story Grid’ by Shawn Coyne, ‘Romancing the Beat’ by Gwen Hayes, and ‘Save the Cat! Writes a Novel’ by Jessica Brody, but there are dozens more I have gotten something great out of. For the indie author entrepreneurs out there, there are four movers and shakers in the space I find myself going back to over and over again. Mark Dawson, Joanna Penn, David Gaughran, and Bryan Cohen.
Beyond that, the resources I recommend everyone find are a solid, reliable critique swap or beta reader group to check the changes you make after getting professional feedback, and a community of other authors who are on the same publishing path as you, either indie or traditional, and who are also just starting off or reaching mid-list success. As the intro to the CanvasRebel podcast says, there’s not as much to be gained in hearing what’s working for bestselling authors back when they were getting their start as there is in following along and networking with those just a few steps ahead of you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hartboundediting.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hartboundediting/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hartboundediting

Image Credits

Amanda Drouin