it feels like my first rave review, and i quite like it

i've gotten the reader's report back from my editor (i'm training myself to say that, trust me), and it's given me a whole lot to think about. a lot of it fits in with ideas that were already beginning to take seed in my mind, so that's a good thing. it's as if getting the reader's report opened some floodgates in my head; the writing's coming easier now. i think it might have something to do with the fact that someone else is telling me exactly how they feel about what i have written and it's positive feedback, so it feels once again like i am actually doing something of worth here.

the best bit about the readers report, the bit that i like to read over and over and that makes me smile again and again, is where my editor tells me what they like about my writing, then, to illustrate the point - get this - quotes passages of my own writing back to me. it's surreal and ego-strokingly excellent. it feels like my first rave review, and i quite like it.

i've been talking lately with another author who recently had their first book published. i asked them what it was like, post-launch buzz. they said it was still quite orgasmic, that every time they saw another copy of their book, they had to sit down. i don't know if they were exaggerating, but somehow i don't think so. they also said that they were getting nothing from their publishers as far as marketing and promotion was concerned. they said that they felt a tad neglected, that after hassling them about the title and the cover and the editing, they felt as if the publisher had just abandoned them. while that does worry me a tad, there is a little part of me that's going, 'yeah, but they're not going to be like that with me, are they?'

hmm. we shall find out. even though i know that thought is a sign of 'i'm so special' syndrome, i'm hoping it's true.