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Dear Thursday: The Return of My Master

So after a not-great day, I trudged up to our house to find… a package from FedEx.

At first I was confused. I had put in a big overnight order for progesterone (apparently after IVF, your body needs a little help making the stuff for the first trimester). But the last time I checked, FedEx didn’t have an option for getting something ordered at 2pm PST from New Jersey to California same day.

Then I realized…

It was my book. Back from my copy editor (and friend), Emily F.

Now the manuscript is sitting on top of the Fierce and Nerdy office (aka my bed) and staring at me accusingly — it also doesn’t approve of me using an adverb to describe how it’s staring at me.

The thing about sending your novel off to a book editor and then a copy editor is that it’s gone for awhile. It’s like you get a free multi-week pass from it, where you don’t have to obsess about all of it’s plot points and character peccadilloes during every waking moment.

Sure, I missed it while it was away. But I kind of got used to not having a sovereign master. And I’m a little surprised by how quickly it’s taken over again.

I can almost hear it saying, “Why are you blogging when you could be working on me? Why are you eating when you could be working on me? Why are you breathing when you could be working on me, me, me?!?!”

So I guess I better get to making those (fantastic — thanks Emily!) copy edits ASAP. Because as any writer will tell you, the only way to shut up a novel is to finish the damn thing.

Besides, once I’m done-done, I’ll be able to start sending it out to agents. And won’t that be a nice escape?

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Photo Credit: Graham Binns/flickr.com