And now for the rest of the story. (Sorry, but I need to dispel all the bad karma if there's any hope for success.) If it were only the month-long wait, it wouldn't be as bad. However, there's another dark reason for my pessimism. I'm such a dolt!
I actually finished my revision and sent it to Nancy in mid-December, and as I waited for her response, I spent more time reviewing the books she asked me to read. My revision was so extensive (added 75,000 words, tearing apart and reassembling the original 90,000) that as I reread some of the novels, it became clear I still needed to fine tune my new manuscript. So I started another round of editing and was almost done when I got Nancy's email, telling me she had dug her way out from the effort of getting manuscripts ready for publishers, and finally had time to read.
I emailed her right back, asking her that if she hadn't started reading my revision, to please wait; I'd have an even better version in a few days. She replied that she had already started reading, but would put it aside. (bang, bang, bang - that's the sound of me smacking my head against the wall). I had wanted to make my manuscript as perfect as possible, and identified a few rough patches that needed fixing and hundreds of other minor improvements. But should I have stopped her? Wouldn't the original revision have been close enough for her to decide? At least I'd have some sort of answer by now.
I sent the "improved" revision to her the first week of January, and haven't heard a thing. And so my glass of pessimism is overflowing - If she started reading it and liked it, then why didn't she pick it back up once I sent in the new version only 2 days later? Well, the answer is obvious - my writing is still terrible, or the new manuscript is too long (bang, bang, bang), or she's lost interest in the story, or her client list is full, or she was killed in a car accident, or .... and the reasons go on and on.
There's probably a simple, non-sinister reason for the silence. She's just busy, and will eventually get to it. But in the meantime, it's hard to keep the demons of doubt at bay...
Okay, I'm done now. I think.