George sat in the tub amidst his piles of bubbles. It was a lovely evening, and Amelia had brought Polly into the nice steamy bathroom so that Polly wouldn’t be alone. She had been very noisy and squawky lately, and Amelia was concerned about her bothering the neighbours.
Polly chattered to herself happily. She sang a song about rubber duckies and she asked George repeatedly if he was a good boy.
“I suppose I am,” George said. “Are you a good bird, Polly?”
“Shhh!” Polly told him. “You are very noisy!”
“I’m not the noisy one, Polly,” George said. “You’ve got to use your inside voice.”
“DON’T BOTHER THE NEIGHBOURS!” Polly shouted at the top of her lungs.
George sighed. His water was getting cold and he was losing his bubbles. It was then he realized that he’d have to get out of the tub with Polly watching. That would not do.
“Amelia!” George called.
“AMELIA!” Polly hollered.
Amelia came running and poked her head into the bathroom.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Could you put a towel over the cage, please?” George asked. “I can’t get out of the tub with Polly watching.”
Amelia giggled and wrapped a towel around the cage and George wrapped a towel around himself.
“So very noisy…” Polly muttered.
And George got cast a baleful look toward the towel-swathed cage.
“I think she’s teasing me!” George said, and Amelia just laughed.
“I think she is,” she agreed.
“You need to take this part out, Patricia,” Amelia said.
“But I love that part,” Patricia said sadly.
“It doesn’t add to the story.”
“Couldn’t I keep it?” Patricia asked. “Just because I like it?”
“You’re the author, so if you really, really want to keep it, you can, of course,” Amelia said. “But you’ve asked me to be honest with you, and I am professionally suggesting that you cut it.”
Amelia didn’t like to disappoint Patricia, but part of putting out a good book was the editing stage, and if Amelia didn’t do her job properly, the book would never be as strong.
“Amelia, you haven’t steered me wrong yet,” Patricia said, and she turned away. “So go ahead and cut it, but don’t make me watch…”
While Patricia turned away, Amelia savagely slashed out the unnecessary paragraph with her pen.
“Is it done?” Patricia asked.
“It’s done,” Amelia said. “You can turn around now. Why don’t you go get a cup a tea? You look like you could use one.”
“I think I will…” Patricia murmured, and she headed out of the room looking a little bit woozy.
Editing was not for the faint of heart.
Friday afternoon, after Amelia had finished her editing and before George got home from the office, Amelia went out for tea with one of her editor friends named Nancy.
“My author has hit writer’s block,” Nancy said. “He just sits at the window and refuses to get dressed until he can write again. He tells me he might never write again, and if that’s the case, he might as well wither away. Frankly, he needs a shower, and his wife is at her wits end. She’s told me she’ll give me a raise if I can just get him writing again.”
Nancy’s author was a very dramatic sort.
“Oh, dear,” Amelia said. “Have you tried giving him ideas?”
“I have!” Nancy replied. “I have given him dozens, but none of them are right. And he won’t get dressed, and he won’t move on to the next chapter. What should I do?”
“Have you tried telling him to give up?” Amelia asked.
“If he gives up, I’m out of work!” Nancy replied.
“It’s a cruel mind game, I know, but you might try suggesting that he just give up entirely and apply for a regular job. Most times authors will get back to work out of spite then.”
“It’s worth a try,” Nancy said. “My goodness, you are an expert by now, aren’t you?”
“Well, I have been at this for a long time,” Amelia said bashfully, and she took another sip of tea. “I’m not sure I’m going to finish this,” she said. “I should never have ordered a large.”
I hope you are enjoying the Knitted Newlyweds. Sometimes I wonder what people must think of me when I’m setting my frogs up for their photos… It might be better not to know. 😉
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Happy reading!
❤
Patricia Johns 
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