Baby came back home

Met with my editor today, in a pub of all places. This is a milestone on its own account, since it is the first time I have walked into any public place without apprehension. Perhaps it was the thought of what was waiting for me.

She With The Short Fat Hairy Legs met me there on her way back from Sheffield where she had been visiting her Dad, and we didn't have to wait long before Malcolm walked in, carrying My Baby under his arm, tucked in its little box.

We sat down and I said I felt like I was awaiting a very important exam result and he replied that he could empathise. Then he went on to say "on that analogy, you passed with flying colours!" My poor little heart began its beating again!

He had written a sheet of notes, contained within the bounds of a single sheet of A4, so it didn't look too ominous, but that was only to explain his further notations within.

On opening the sheaf of the MSS, I fully expected to see pages and pages with blue or red scribbles all over them. I expected to see the tracks of a spider crawled out of an inkwell, but this was not to be.

There are many pages without any notation of any sort, and those that have them are only minor. He has changed the odd bit of punctuation and syntax, replaced a couple of colons with full stops and vice versa and has split a couple of sentences.

He has also suggested a new paragraph and moving a couple of sentences to facilitate identification etc.

All in all, not too much, but it still means a lot of careful and tedious work.

My Baby is still just as it was when it left home, except for a couple of trinkets.

Malcolm did say it had been hard for him to do. He became so far engulfed in enjoying the tales that he forgot that he was there to work on them, so had to start again from the beginning. So, he decided to read right through, then get to work!

He told me he liked the style of writing and thought it was all very good, so I asked if he would care to have his name associated with it or would he prefer to remain anonymous - he said he would be proud and delighted to be associated with the book!

Oh, he has agreed to edit the next one for me (on the same terms).


I'm one very 'appy bunny right now, although there is much still to do!