zeekie: take two.

...trying to get the manuscript published. The editor who read it liked the first half, but "didn't think the second half lived up to the promise of the first".

I'm not quite sure what this means exactly. It's not a rejection per se, since we haven't been told it's a lost cause, but it does mean that it'll be harder getting the author a contract. What's happened is that we (the interns, that is) have been told to read some of the author's earlier books - she published some books in the early '90s - and to give our comments on those books.

I can't help feeling that this latest detour is perhaps a giant wild goose chase: on one hand, maybe it's to show that the second half of this manuscript is just an errant blip, that she's capable of following through. But on the other hand - well, I suppose on the other hand there's just my not-knowing what happens in cases like these.

I do want to get this woman a contract. I really do. I believe in the manuscript. I believe in her writing ability. I like to think it's not all about my wanting to have done something big with this internship. Because, really, an intern helping someone get published? Not a small thing.

I don't think it is, though - that this is all for me. Because I have read a lot of shite in the past few months, and I have also read many lovely books, and this woman isn't the best by far, but she deserves to be published again.