To Hell and Back in 24 Hours

Received manuscript to edit.

First-time author.

Rife with problems. Unpublishable in my opinion.

Extreme angst. What to do?

Many emails and phone calls with publisher and managing editor.

Convinced them to hold or kill it.

Euphoria.

Managing editor: "I'll send you a 'pretty' manuscript."

Received it. It's ugly.

Nearly 2,000 end notes to deal with, among other issues.

Locked balcony door. Ten floors to ground level.

Yin and Yang

My favorite is the em dash. It says, "Stop! Look at me. Take notice. Something important is happening here." To my mind, it's the prima donna of punctuation, in the best sense.

And then there's em's bastard cousin, the hyphen. Half the size, twice the trouble! It intends to clarify, to help avoid confusion. "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." I'd like to commit punctuational genocide on the hyphen.