Trick or Treat? (My Edits Are Back!)

The edited file of Book #1 sits in an email as an attachment. The email came in early morning. My first reaction was a gut-punch thrill (It's here. I'm finally to the real-live THE END phase. OMG!) then panic pounded in my chest like a jackhammer. An hour later, I still can't bring myself to open the file...

The Editor's note mentions minor grammatical edits and a few confusing sentences that need to be clarified.

But what's REALLY in that file? I wonder...

This time of year, you never know what goblins might lurk around the next corner. Now, I know the Editor is an awesome editor, professional and forthright, but still.

What if there are pages and pages of markups? What if every page has so many markups they look like spiderwebs? What if I don't "get" now to fix the edits? What if I'm not up to the task? When I look at the webbed pages, will I spaz out? Go into full-blown panic attack mode. Not being able to breathe, unable to explain that I've been attacked by the goblins in an electronic file. If I open it, and even after the Editor's most awesome effort, the words don't pop?

Okay, apparently self-doubt is the goblin in question. From what I understand, Doubt is the most insidious of the gremlins out to undermine writerly joy.

Maybe I'll download the file first. Not open it. When I do, I'll peek, one eye shut, like out from under the covers when things go bump in the night. Or when there's a knock on the door (email in the box), and my hand hovers over the doorknob (finger over the mouse button). I sip air, then forget to breathe. My hand trembles. I turn the knob (click open).

I suck in mouthful of air. Panic grips my chest.

It's time...

Trick or Treat?

Snobs, Con Jobs, & Thingamabobs

SNOBS

"So what sort of books do you write?" I asked.

Literary fiction author said, "I write literary fiction."

"I see... Um, what is your book about?"

"A woman's life's journey." Literary fiction author's nose lifted ceilingward.

"Ah, so woman's fiction?"

"Not hardly. And what is it YOU write?"

"YA paranormal," I said, "with aspects of science fiction and fantasy."

Literary fiction author gazed at me with THE look that was meant to pity and to put a lowly genre writer such as me in my place.

(Bet I had more fun writing in my nose-upturning genre than literary fiction author did with literary fiction! Just saying.)

CON JOBS

From a recent writing class, the instructor offered to edit a few chapters for a set fee. The turnaround was quick, and the editor asked for a couple of more chapters to edit as a bonus. ("I just love your writing style." "You're such a fast learner.")

For further edits the editor offered to edit for a set fee per hour. The edits took a bit longer, with the same chapters undergoing multiple edits.

Next go around, the editors fee went up 50%, and deeper editing per chapter was suggested.

I passed.

THINGAMABOBS

Hubby is my initial reader of edited chapters.

When I used the method from You Can Write a Novel by James V. Smith Jr. to adjust chapter pacing, he was impressed with the increased pace.

I was thrilled when he asked about the technique.

A few minutes into my Readability Statistics explanation, he said, "Whatever you're doing, it's working."

Off to revise using my thingamabob process.