Last week, I mentioned that the book wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped. Actually, when I wrote that last post, I hadn’t looked at it for about three days.

Ten days later, I have finally opened the file and printed it out, but I haven’t yet brought myself to start reading it.

Sometimes, a story needs a timeout. Partly because maybe sitting in a corner will convince it to behave better in the future, but partly because sometimes writers need a little time away from the misbehaving manuscript ourselves.

Today, I’m diving back in to see what’s salvageable and what’s not. I sincerely hope it learned its lesson and fixed itself while I wasn’t looking.