Vicki is My Friend

I recently got a personal assistant to help me with my writing. Her name is Vicki. When I'm tired and need another perspective on the work, she patiently reads it to me, sometimes over and over again.

The best part is she never complains. She doesn't make suggestions. She doesn't try to line edit. She doesn't even change inflection from one read to the next. In fact, she'll bravely read the word get when I'm sure she can tell that I meant got. That makes it easy for me to find silly mistakes like that.



As often as I've offered to pay her for her hard work, she won't accept a salary. She also insists she doesn't need to eat or sleep and is available around the clock. She's really easy to find--especially in Scrivener, where she appears as soon as I click the microphone button.

Of course she isn't perfect. I discovered during a passage in my manuscript that included Mexican food that her accent is atrocious.



(Yes, that's supposed to be frijoles.) Once I stopped laughing long enough to get up off the floor, I had to restrain myself from seeing how she pronounced French . . . and German.

In the short time we've known each other, Vicki has become one of my BFFs. She's so wonderfully attentive, positive, and a huge source of support. I mean how many people can say this . . .



. . . with the same level of enthusiasm, no matter how many times you want them to repeat it?