New and edited stories have come in this past couple of weeks and I’ll be working on that this weekend to put our final manuscript together. One of the hardest parts is working with friends. It’s so much easier to send a rejection letter to a stranger than it is to tell a friend their story wasn’t selected. And I’ve been doing an awful job of explaining why. One of my best friends reminded me of the Godfather take on it…it’s business, not personal.
I’ve been avoiding taking a look at the TOC that Larry and James turned in before they left. See, that’s how we do it at Travelers’ Tales. The outside editors work with the executive editors and it becomes a collaborative effort in the end. I’ve been a little nervous to look at what they’ve added since their decisions are pretty much a done deal. They are out of town and there’s no more room for back and forth. But we shall see. I’ve held back this week to just take care of the whole lot this weekend. If I had done it earlier, and I wanted to fight, it would’ve been useless energy. Doing it at the end like this, it’ll all just be final decisions as the deadline will call for it. No time to get upset about decisions I didn’t like.
So, here comes the last push. BTW, I got one story this week from an author who had heard about the final, final call from right here on Written Road. It was great as this person was a complete stranger and they turned in a story on a much needed topic. Which reminds me…if you’ve got any stories on traveling with hotflashes, or menopause, please send them in. I should’ve said that earlier, but forgot. We need one. Also, if you’ve ever read one *in recent years* please direct me to the source. Jen@jenleo.com
Thanks!