Sending our babies off to school (or the editor)

It was a big week around here. Four of the nine grandkids started school. One started high school, another started kindergarten. Big life-changing events. And oh yeah, I sent the first round of edits/revisions back to my publisher,.Pelican Book Group.

Sending the first round of revision/edits didn’t cause nearly the nail-biting anxiety as submitting the query, first three chapters, etc.. because, they already liked it. We’re in the polishing stage now. But for all those other submissions we writers make, we’re back to nail biting. Much the same way my daughter Nina was stressing about Ava heading to kindergarten.

Ava is…well, Ava. The world revolves around Ava. Or at least she thinks it does. But she’s so darn happy about it, you can’t help but be happy with her. Nina made her husband Allen go with them the first day of school in case Ava got upset. Allen went into work late so he could be there in case his daughter was scared. In case she was frightened. In case she questioned this big new world she was expected to participate in (like eating together with your class and not just when you’re hungry, and assigned seating, and having to raise your hand to ask to go to the bathroom!) There was just one little hitch in Ava’s expected meltdown. It never happened. She didn’t even wave goodbye to her mom and dad. Just ran head first, arms open wide into her classroom. She threw herself out there, out into the world and said “Like me!”

Ava and big brother Landon ready for that first day of school

And of course like any mother, Nina worries will they like her Ava? Will they understand her quirky sense of humor? Will they embrace her independence? Will they accept her? Do they pay on acceptance or publication? Do they have a kill fee? How many author copies do they offer? Oh…oops. I was talking about my daughter sending her daughter to kindergarten, wasn’t I?