Go ahead, shoot yourself in the foot...

It really is true when they say editors love their babies. Or least, are invested in their babies. One of my stories got a wonderful, feel-good, glowing diamond of a review which focused on--omg, how wonderfully the emotions came across (publishing takes such a long time, the stuff I've worked on has finally started to trickle into the market). It was a Hallmark moment. I felt...I dunno, good. "I" did that.

The author, on the other hand--was the biggest jerk in the world. Passive-aggressive, unwilling to do the work, she complained from the day we started edits to the day--many months later, when we finally wrapped up. Along the way, she hated each and every one of my suggestions, kept changing her comma placement, and no matter what I did, refused to understand that no matter what she visualized up in her head, real people don't use ten dollar multi-word phrases for something that can easily be summed up in a one cent desk-slammer. To be fair--I've had that problem more than once, and it's made me very leery of people who use their "I took a creative writing workshop" skills.

Someone asked me--hey, I couldn't "not" boast--when I was going to buy the author's next story, and it stopped me dead.

I'm not.

Unless she pulls a Diana Galabon, the time I put in, the raging headaches and sheer effort of pulling this nasty woman, kicking and screaming, nails sunk into the floor, through multiple edits simply wasn't worth it. It was an okay story, but what made it really stand out was it's potential.

Unfortunately, because of her background--the creative writing courses, a couple of magazine articles, friends who patted her on the back, and an over-inflated sense of self-worth, the author thought she was done. All I had to do was publish her Pulitzer prize winning opus.

To sum up her insular world-view, she capped it off by patronizing my boss.

Talk about burning your bridges. Like I tell my kids, even if you hate a job--don't tell them where to go unless you don't want to work there anymore.

I'm not sure what to think--I've had some really wonderful experiences. Some authors are simply a joy--they listen, ask questions (you know, so we can work through things, 'cause I'm not always right and it really is a partnership) do the job, and are always professional. And by professional I don't mean they grovel--I simply mean they don't blast my suggestions as stupid, remove track changes and change the manuscript back to the way it was submitted, hate this--hate that, and then get upset when I repeat myself.

All things considered? There are other people with stories just as good.