Worried

It’s that time of book again--I am awaiting edits for my first culinary mystery in the “Dinner is Served” series, Mission Impastable. This is my first go-round with Oak Tree Press’s editing process, so I don’t know quite what to expect.

Sure, I have some idea about sentence-level stuff because of my recent editing experience with Streetwalker (under Angelica French, Sizzler Editions, July, 2013).

I am certain that I didn’t magically construct better sentences in Mission Impastable. I’m sure my editor, Billie Johnson, will find that I overused “as”, “was”, “had”, and my other bête noirs! She’ll make me change my passive stance to active, drop dialogue tags, keep a consistent point of view, and lots more.

But--here’s the fear--will she call me on the “fatal flaw”?

Do you know on page 5 whodunnit? Do the clues logically lead to the conclusion? Are the red herrings smelly enough without taking over the story? And do the characters come across as real, genuine, gee-I’d-like-to-know-them people?

And how about that backstory intrusion?

What will I have to correct of a substantive nature? Am I up to the challenge? Will the fraud that is me be revealed to the world? I tremble more every day that passes.