I was surprisingly cool when I hit the send button. Then when my editor made contact to confirm that he received my manuscript and ask me why I had it formatted the way I did, my heart-beat nearly choked me. The oh, so cool-as-cucumber flew out of the window. I have yet to send anything off without a hitch, but because I felt so calm, I was sure this time I had.
By Friday morning I have settled into a pleasant routine of checking my email every hour, just in case he has questions. And since I haven't heard a thing, I'm assuming the heap of words I sent is keeping him busy enough.
This thing called editing has really opened my eyes to all the writing errors over the years that make my mother cringe, and I have done quite a bit of blogging in the past. I not only installed Grammarly but a second one called ProWritingAid (free trial - but quickly making me feel dependent). They daily enlighten me to the error of my ways and have done nothing for my confidence. I cannot wait until mid-October when my 79,000 plus words get returned to me, having been wrung through the wringer by a live editor.
I began writing for real last year and never had so much fun. I felt like it was a real stress release; it even thrilled my family that I was enjoying myself so much. But these last two months of editing have completely made up for all the wigging out I missed.
And to think, I’m ready to start on book two?