Page proofs and the jitters

[Pauline Rowson]

The page proofs have arrived for the new Inspector Horton crime novel Blood on the Sand which is being published on 25 February 2010.

This is the final stage before the novel goes to print and perhaps the most nerve racking (apart from publication that is) because it is too late to make major changes, or even too many small ones apart from typo corrections and glaring errors. So now the novel stands as it is. A deep breath is taken before it is finally signed off.

Do other authors get the jitters about their latest novels, and if so when? When they have finished it and sent it off to their editor or agent? Or perhaps at copy-edit stage or publication? Or perhaps they never get the jitters and it's just me!