Was I ready? I wasn't sure I was.
What if I had five characters named Charlotte? There were lots of them in the original. I know there were several to start with. I think there are only two left. Should I make one into Kate (no, that's me) or Dorothy? Allison? Georgette? Charlotte? Oops.
Have I taken out all the periods that are in the wrong place? I found "i.t" instead of "it." How do those things happen??
Should I read the last two stories again? One had been gone over by two editors, but the last by only one.
Will they fail to publish the work because I refused to turn "square piano" into "upright piano"?
Had I spread useless punctuation all over each story? Or taken out some that made the words understandable?
Did I have Christmas in 1888 on the right day? It was a Tuesday that year.
Worst and most frightening of all: am I ready for this? Am I ready to go out and stump for my volume of short stories? This will be the first time I am the sole parent of a book. What if I let the publisher, my relatives, myself down? What if I can't really do the next part? The part that isn't as much fun as writing.
Isn't it bad enough that publishers turn us down so much of the time? Do we have to do it ourselves?
Stop thinking and just hit the key.
Done!