In June, I wrote a love letter to my work-in-progress, when it was still shiny and new to me, before I sent it out to my first round of readers. Since I love this manuscript even more now that it’s no longer in progress, I thought it deserved another love letter.

Dear Manuscript,

When I sent you off to those first several readers a few months ago, I was buoyed by the sense that you were the best thing I’d ever written. That everyone who read you would love you as much as I did.

Of course, they saw your flaws. Those first readers, and the second, and the third. They pointed out where you floundered, looking for purpose, where you didn’t make sense, where you needed more tension. BUT, they also saw your strengths and what I loved about you. They gave me insightful comments about how to make you shine before I sent you out into the much broader world.

So now, instead of that blush of first love, we’ve been through months of hard truths and tricky problems. We didn’t always solve them on the first try, but we kept at it. We have survived, and you are so much stronger for it.

I loved you before, dear words, but now I love you even more. I’m sure you still aren’t perfect, but you are as ready as you’ll ever be. Not everyone will love you, and that’s okay.

I will always love you, dear words …

Michelle