As co-editor of the Nothing Without Us anthology, this last few weeks felt as if I were handed the baton in the second-to-final lap of a relay race while I cried, “Oh crap, I need to deliver this to the last runner!”

The “last runner” being the final production team at Presses Renaissance Press.

However, the edits got sent to authors, the stories came back, and then it was time for me to assemble them into the final manuscript. Talia and I agreed that two people doing this at once wouldn’t work. Anyway, this is kind of my jam because I used to prepare publications for proofing back in the ol’ tech writing days.

But wow, are things different now. Even though I advocate for disabled folks, and this anthology is all about works from disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse people . . . somehow I forgot I’m disabled, too. It boggles the mind, I know. Silly me.

Working to a deadline while managing an unpredictable neuropathic pain condition is super fun. Because, you know, of the unpredictable part. Like when you must send off a manuscript, and the body decides to deliver 8+/10 pain levels in all the fibro icky spots. Having my fingers flare up is not exactly convenient at times like this.

Nevertheless, I got through it and sent the entire manuscript off to the Editing Manager at Renaissance this afternoon. WHOOPEEE!

Now I want to sleep until they call me Rip Van Cait.

But I did the thing!

And when I see all these words bound in a book with its wicked cover, it will all have been worth it.

Actually, when I’ll read about how excited the authors are over getting their copies, it will be so worth it.

So, in conclusion:

YAY!

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Cait Gordon is a disability advocate and the author of Life in the ’Cosm and The Stealth Lovers (Fall of 2019). When she’s not writing, Cait’s editing manuscripts and running The Spoonie Authors Network, a blog whose contributors manage disabilities and/or chronic conditions. She’s also teamed up with co-editor Talia C. Johnson on the Nothing Without Us anthology (Fall of 2019.)