Ugh

I've just had a real setback. The editor of my first book has had the second for a couple of months and a couple of days ago I got an email from her. The bottom line is, she hates it. Doesn't relate to the character, think the two key scenes of the book are overdone, doesn't understand why some scenes are in there at all. Sorting through all this is a bit of a shock. Since the second book is based on the same characters as the first it never occurred to me she'd just flat out dislike it. Now it's time to talk to her and I don't know what to say. The things she's saying don't seem like fodder for a rewrite, they seem like a request for an utterly different book.

This is the distressing nature of this business. Everyone says "two steps forward, one step back" but it's actually not even that easy to progress. At times if feels like "two steps forward, two steps back" is more the rhythm of the dance.