Verified answer

I wrote term papers the night before they were due, so I'm probably not the one to advise, Vivi.

But, I do think you should talk to your spouse and tell him what you told us. You are afraid of several things and if you could lay the fears down you could do a good job of helping him. You are afraid your additions will somehow "ruin" his book. You are afraid to just do it because it might not succeed, ie fail. You may even be afraid to succeed!

If you could talk to him and be sure he would not hold you responsible for things you couldn't help you could get past your fears. It sounds to me like he just wants you to try and give it your best. What more can anyone ask of you???

If you could turn your thinking around and go at this from a positive point of view you could do this. Plus, there are other ways to deal with the grammar and spelling issues. Maybe someone else can edit and proof things for you.

Don't predict failure without giving things a try. I think you will surprise yourself if you give yourself the chance you would give someone else! Go for it! =)

In your case stalling appears to me as just a polite and indirect way of saying no. You should discuss your problems with your husband and either you convince him that it is his book and he has to do the rewrite or he convinces you that it can be a book written by both of you. Alternatively you can also decide to pay somebody for the tweaking...

If you decide to work on it, set apart some time in which you do nothing or work on the book. You can sit and twiddle your thumbs instead of working, but you can't do any other chores or leave the desk. Eventually you will get into the habit of it.

Is there a problem with collaboration? If he liked what you did with the beginning, maybe you should view yourself as a co-author -- maybe that would feel better to you.

If you're doing line editing for the manuscript, by the way, you might want to look at the prices charged for such work online. I do it myself (bkedits.com), and so do many others, and it doesn't come cheap. Maybe you're feeling as if you're not a full partner, but editing is a lot of work!

First, would that not make you an editor? If you want to rewrite it then I do not see the problem with being a co-author unless you have some conflict of interest as a result. If you are still leery, hire an outside editor to read and critique, etc.

Set a goal of pages you should look over each day. Set consequences if you don't do it. You could also go along with the self consequence that if you procrastinate today, you'll havr twice the work tomorrow

You shouldn't be given this task. No wonder you procrastinate!

Tell your husband that professional writers do their own edits and rewrites.

I wouldn't want anyone besides myself (or a publisher) to edit my work. *