The title to this post is a good friend's response to a crisis I was having last night. To wit:
Last night, about two weeks before deadline, I composed an e-mail on problems/questions I was having about final MS preparation, and sent it off to editor's assistant.
Auto reply: Assistant no longer works for the press. Please contact editor directly.
Okay. No problem. Editor is, of course, Fabulous Editor, and has always been helpful. I forwarded the message.
Auto-reply: Editor is out of the office until August 10 (that's four days before my deadline).
Arrgh!!!
And my friend suggests: Double-space everything and move on, which I think is actually good advice, and boils down to: "Control the things you can, and don't worry about the things you can't."
And then....
FabEd e-mails FROM HIS VACATION IN EUROPE to answer my questions, because he knows that I'm in a rough position here. And the answer to most of my fiddly questions is basically, "Sounds good. And if there's a problem, we can totally fix it in later stages."
I love FabEd, and suggest that everyone work with him.
Off to Jury Duty!
2 comments:
That's a smart editor. There are a few areas or activities where do-overs are impossible--thoracic surgery, Olympic sports, and soufflés come to mind--but most have at least some room to fix it in the mix, as they say in music recording.
FabEd appears to have a well-earned pseudonym. Best of luck with the remaining revisions!
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