Abby Zidle
It's been two years since Jeff invited me to join the Dead Guy crew; I've had a great time blogging and/or navel-gazing, but eventually even I have to stop talking about myself. So this is my last post.
If I conveyed anything useful at all over my 100 or so posts (woo-hoo! now I can be syndicated, right?), I hope it's the knowledge that editors want only the best for their authors, even if success is defined somewhat differently from my side of the desk. Or rather, that there are many successes to be achieved along the way. Success is completing a manuscript at all. Success is taking your writing seriously enough to scrap that novel, or at least put it in a drawer for a month or two before forcing yourself to begin the editing/reconstruction phase. Success is having the nerve to share your novel with someone else; it's making the decision to publish. Success is doing your homework and approaching the right agents, and it's continuing to approach agents despite a stack of rejection letters in your mailbox. And of course, success is that moment you get The Call.
I'd like to thank all the other Dead Guys for their camaraderie and their wisdom--the publishing world seems much bigger to me now, but far less arcane. As the least mystery-relevant of our contributors, I've always appreciated the chance to play in their sandbox, strewn with bodies though it may be. I'll be reading, and no doubt mouthing off in the comments, and I look forward to reading the work of my editorial replacement. Thanks for letting me play some small part in making the publishing world...less of a mystery.
