Welp…I got the dev editor’s feedback on my novel.

I’m pleased to report that I did not immediately lie down upon reading it, nor has there been any crying.

But neither do I feel a lightning strike of brilliance. No “That’s it! That’s what I needed this whole time!”

I feel kind of … flat.

A bit, “huh…was all this a mistake?”

*

Here’s the thing: That doesn’t mean it’s not useful.

This feedback could very well lead to a fabulously improved next draft.

But I’m not there yet. I’m still in the resisting phase.

I keep remembering what a friend once wrote: “The word ‘edit’ comes from the Latin verb edere, meaning ‘to bring forth,’ ‘to produce’…Only later did it become associated with correction. Editing isn’t separate from the work of creation. It *is* the work of creation.”

That wisdom is helping me read my dev editor’s feedback with more clarity and grace.

Her thoughts are here for me to sift through and find what’s useful *in service to the book*—not to my ego.

And that takes time.
It takes patience and discernment and letting go.

*

I’ll report back in a few weeks when the dust has settled. For now, I just wanted to name a feeling many writers go through upon receiving feedback:

Uncertainty. Resistance.

Doubt.

That’s okay.
It’s all part of it.