Word After Word

I sent the manuscript off to see what people who know a lot about books think. It’s a horrible thing to do to a manuscript.  My poor tortured manuscript is not ready. But I don’t have the courage right now to work on him. I need a break. He needs grandparents, boarding school, boot camp, a ghost. He needs professional help. He needs more than I give him right now.

I want someone brilliant to tell me how to make the book better. And I want to have the knowledge and skill to enact their vision. It’s all kind of fantastic, as in, fantasy. I know when my students submit work to the class, they want the same things. Tell me its great and tell me how to fix it. The teacher doesn’t have that power. I know the brilliant person who will tell me how to make the book better is not out there. She’s in here. She’s me.

What’s real, what’s not fantasy? Working, practicing, writing every day. I’m not sure anyone does know how to fix someone else’s book. To find that perfect pairing of editor and manuscript—well, it’s just like looking for a romantic partner, a soul mate.

Timing. We have to leave the book alone for just the right amount of time. Enough to have distance but not so much that courage and vision and interest (it’s just like dating) fade. I don’t know. A week?