The Seven Emotional Stages of Dealing with My Edited Manuscript

My manuscript came back from the editor about a week ago. The process of revising the edits was a highly emotional one… Shock I was shocked to the point of stupefaction when I opened the word document containing the edited version of my manuscript because it was suddenly blue. The changes to my manuscript were in blue text. It looked like it had been attacked by a herd of Smurfs. Denial Shaking my head, I promptly closed the word document. I hadn’t been sleeping much. Sleep deprivation does strange things to the mind. I convinced myself the blueness of my manuscript was a hallucination.Pain After my best friend had taken a look at my manuscript, and confirmed it was indeed blue, I felt as though I’d been stabbed in the gut. The story I’ve created is my baby. It hurt that someone wanted to change it.   Anger When the hurt ebbed, anger flooded my being. Oh yes, I got mad. How dare someone attack the story I worked so hard to create? What gave them the right to sick a bunch of rowdy Smurfs on it? Bargaining It took me some time to calm down. I did some serious fuming over my “Smurfed” manuscript. But once I ran out of steam, I decided to try to see the blue more objectively. However, I demanded clear and direct guidelines for how I should proceed. I wanted detailed instructions. Overwhelmed The thorough directives I requested didn’t materialize on account of them being unreasonable stipulations. I’d been given the broad strokes of how I should improve my story, and now it was up to me to do it. To say the prospect left me a little daunted would be an epic understatement. Acceptance It took several long walks, but I finally shoved my insecurities aside and got to work. As I went through my manuscript, approving changes and incorporating suggestions that had been made, I realized the editor and I want the same thing - we both want what’s best for my story.This isn’t the end of the editing saga. Oh no, this is only the beginning. But thanks to advice from fellow writers, the patience of my friends, and a lot of coffee, I made it through the first round.