Author Judy Blume reminisces about her first editor who got her through many of her first books—from Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret to Here’s to You, Rachel Robinson—and how that editor taught her how to dig deeper into her characters and storylines by asking questions. Through many editors since then, she continues to create her books by getting that first tortuous draft on paper and then from there—as if creating a jigsaw puzzle from scratch by cutting out the pieces, fitting them together, sanding, then finally painting and polishing the puzzle—massaging each draft toward that final manuscript.
