Giant exhale. I just (like, 30 seconds ago) sent off my edits for Autumn Bird And The Runaway. It is officially off my desk.
This last week has involved lots of coffee and not much sleep. I returned form a brief (yet harrowing – remind me to tell you sometime) x-country ski outing to a series of texts from Melanie about a major insert that Hardworking Anne was insisting on.
The insert had to do with Cody’s racism. We had both skated around the issue, rather elegantly I think, leaving it in the air for readers to notice, frown at, and deal with as they see fit.
‘Not good enough,’ said Hardworking Anne. She wanted us to have our characters argue about it and come to a new place. On the principal of ‘See something, say something,’ her idea made sense. We responded with the principal of, ‘But it’s yucky and messy.’ Hardworking Anne would not take that for an answer.
So, with my quadriceps crying out from unaccustomed overuse (my last x-country ski outing was in the winter of 1987), Mel and I thrashed something out from Autumn’s POV.
Later on in the story, there's another opportunity to deal with Cody’s racism from his own POV. I didn’t bother to argue with Hardworking Anne. I bowed my head and got down to it.
As a writer, you are pathetically grateful for the (all too infrequent) positive editorial feedback. I can deal with a dozen ‘I don’t believe…’ or ‘What about …’ comments if there is one ‘Love this!’ Even a single smiley emoji will carry me for pages.
Anyway, it’s done for now. The boomerang is out of my hand.
It’ll be back.