You're not the boss of me...are you?

I was checking out some photos of another author's BEA experience. One of the photos captions said "My Boss...the owner of XYZ Books."

And it stopped me dead in my tracks.

Her boss?

Wow, that really blows me away. I've never thought of anyone at Kensington as my boss. Not my editor (who I love) or any of the other hard-working staff whose job it is to package and sell great books.

I prefer to see it as a strong team relationship, mainly because I really really dislike the word "boss."

Even at my FTJ I refer to my "boss" as the "Director" because that's her title. Or as my "supervisor."

Note the tiny difference between boss and supervisor.

Okay, clearly I have a thing about control. So what else is new?

But it's especially rattling to me to think of anyone at my publisher's as my boss. I mean, one of the reasons I was so attracted to writing as a career is because the traditional boss/employee relationship is not involved.

What you have is a group of people with one goal in mind - make your book successful.

Bosses, dictate.

Bosses, say things like "Do this like that because this is how I want it." And yes, I've had a boss say that to me before.

Bosses are on one level, employees another.

So I need to talk this out.

If anyone at Kensington is my boss, it would have to be my editor, right? I mean, she's the one who has the power to change the direction of any manuscript I send her. She's the one who champions my books through the marketing, sales and promo mazes and thus must believe in the direction of the books.

Still, even when a marked up mss and editorial letter with her thoughts about elminations, enhancements and other changes, arrives at my door, I don't see it as a boss telling an employee to make these changes, or else.

I see it as creative reinforcement, ready to analyze my work to tell me what I missed because I'm too close. A new set of eyes to catch glaring and sometimes not so glaring elements that need to be strengthened or deleted.

But my boss?

Yikes, I hope not.

Even when I was freelancing more regularly, I never saw the editors as my boss. I saw them as creative partners guiding the article to its final stage.

And I don't see this as semantics.

Seriously, for all the pains being a self-employed writer brings, the one joy is not having a boss.

Maybe I'm deluding myself, doing what I need to keep my creativity at its peak. If so, let me live in my fantasy world. I chose writing for this leg of my career path because the thought of working for myself was so appealing.

Some writers have said getting paid to write is a passion drain. They much prefer the liberation of being a starving artist.

Well, I'm not from that camp. Pay me and pay me good - payment and passion are mutually exclusive elements when it comes to my writing.

But the second the boss walks in the room, I am so out of here.