The Five Stages of Galley Proofing

[I received the first round of galleys of A Tangled Weave in mid-December. I suppose this means I have a new top priority in my January to-do list.]

Galley proofs from Five Rivers Publishing;
collage by Hib Novotny

DENIAL
I am never going to to see these things. O woe, the publisher has forgotten me! My book will never appear, and my career will be doomed.

ANGER
Why has the publisher sent these galleys to me now? I'm in no shape to get anything done with them. I have new projects on the go and my career is burgeoning. Whatever that is.

BARGAINING
Look, I promise I'll get to these right away, if you'll just agree that my book is a thing of wonder and worthy of a recommendation on io9 or tor.com.

DEPRESSION My ghod, what was I thinking when I wrote this? The text doesn't look exactly wrong, in the sense that these are properly spelled words organized in some recognizably grammatical fashion. But—but—what is this supposed to mean? Horror! DOOOOOOM!

ACCEPTANCE I suppose there's no point in worrying about this anymore. My career is doomed; I'll just have to live with this. Oh, look! Cute animals on the internet!