(sorry erika, I have no clue but...)

Hey it's monday. How about a drabble? Here's a topic:

recognition

I thought it might be, DJ. But although I've worked for editors now, and sometimes those relations have their contentions, I've never had an "Oh shit, the Boss!" boss.(You'd think that'd feel better, wouldn't you? Me too.)

Thanks for the ideas, y'all! That definitely gives me something to build on.

It's cowardly to be hiding from the email that probably contains the author's response to my first set of edit notes, isn't it.

If I was into power, this would be a cool gig. But I'm discovering power makes me nauseous. I keep going, "What the hell do I know about making someone else's writing better? He's going to send me hate mail, track down my address, appear at my door with a baseball bat, and smash my computer."

It's hard balancing personal taste against writing that needs tweaked. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it needs fixed.

I'd say give him the notes anyway...he doesn't have to use them all.

Oh, he's got them, I'm just too cowardly to look for his reply.

That is awkward. Hope he doesn't take it too personally.

Nah, he's probably more of a grownup than I am. I'm just whinging away in angst again and contemplating my weird relationship with authority. It's amazing how many people think I'm a hardass, when really the least bit of pushback makes me crumble.

edit: My first reaction to editing notes is always shock, horror, and "How could you criticize my deathless prose! Heathen! Philistine!" But recognizing the problem is half the battle. I don't know how pros do it. They probably don't react like their only precious darling child has been prepped for a beauty contest, only to be booted in the first round.

Issues? Volumes.

My first reaction to editing notes is always shock, horror, and "How could you criticize my deathless prose! Heathen! Philistine!" But recognizing the problem is half the battle. I don't know how pros do it. They probably don't react like their only precious darling child has been prepped for a beauty contest, only to be booted in the first round.

According to "how to write" books that is, in fact the normal reaction. The way the pro's handle it is to send out short note thanking the editor or beta responder for the feedback, taking a deep breath, putting the feedback aside, and looking at it again the next day. By then they have recovered from the shock of criticism and are able to evaluate it rationally. (Your time may vary. Some writers are able to reach that stage within hours, some take weeks, but very few don't have that initial reaction. The secret is not in not having that reaction, but in moving beyond that.

Maybe someone can tell me how to deal with the "why won't someone publish my book cause it can't be my fault" reaction.

Okay, I'm writing a story where my character, aged somewhere mid-thirties, is going to eventually find out she had experimental brain surgery as a child, but right now, her hairstylist has just discovered the scar. What would it look like?(bearing in mind that I pulled this particular operation out of my butt and it doesn't currently exist, but let's say she had a "pacemaker" of a sort implanted in her brain's motor center.) Like I said, being that I made this up, it doesn't have to stand up to fact-checking, but I'm drawing a complete blank.