I turned them in yesterday.
Yeah!!!
A book is not finished when you turn in the manuscript. The book is done when you turn in the corrections on the page proofs.
This is why I don't celebrate sending in the ms. But tonight, we went out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.
Now, I can let my fingers unclench on the manuscript. I can let it go.
And I can now direct some more energy to this website banner problem.
Page proofs are also called galleys. What you're doing when you go over the page proofs is you look at the actual pages the way they will appear in the book.
It is like finding Waldo. For 300 pages. Under a deadline.
You have one last chance to catch the place where your character walks across the room and opens the window and then three pages later somebody else opens the same window. You have to make sure it's clear who's speaking the next piece of dialog.
You look at it word by word by word.
When you finish this process there is not a great deal of your brain left.
Woo-hoooo, Jo! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI love hearing about the nitty gritty bits of publishing - even if you may not enjoy experiencing them so much.
Hope you get your brain back very soon. :-)
Congrats! Can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteYou are very kind.
ReplyDeleteI have a light, floaty kind of feeling. Just relief in getting it done with.
I love the painting! How apropos--it really expresses how I imagine you must feel right now. I think I should hire myself out as a proofreader because I occasionally find typos in the books I read. I can't help myself! It's very hard for the writer to pick up every error in their own creation since our brains are wired to fill in the missing information or to take it out without our ever knowing we are doing so. This has been scientifically studied (I just recently listened to a book on the subject) and quite fascinating.
ReplyDeleteHOORAY! I can't tell you how happy I am to be one step closer to Adrian in all his glory. :D
ReplyDelete>>>Adrian in all his glory<<
ReplyDeleteIt's not like I feel any pressure or anything . . .
Hi Cathy --
ReplyDeleteThis business of finding errors on a page. Some folks can do it. I don't know how.
They just glance down a page and point and say -- "That's spelled wrong."
I can be looking RIGHT AT IT and not see the error. I am so bad at proofreading.
Does anyone else have a black banner with a white triangle outline and a white exclamation point within the triangle? It's blocking my view of the words.
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem. I can't imagine why.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! That's so exciting- Adrian is officially finished and he can join the ranks of his co-workers and enjoy (I am assuming) his well deserved happy ending. I cannot wait to read it. I hope you are beyond the pressure stage now and can enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.
ReplyDeleteOn a technical note I am also getting the exclamation point in the triangle obscuring a half the page.
Hi Christine --
ReplyDeleteRandom people at Blogger seem to be experiencint the triangles. It's apparently related to the particular template I am using.
Google Technical has been alerted to this. If they don't clear it up in a day or two, I will go in and change my template.
*sigh*
I understand one can do this without losing all the blog's content.
Probably.
I'm looking forward to Adrian's story. Will all the supporting players be back?
ReplyDeleteOh, yes. We have the whole lot. I'd say Pax is the strongest secondary character in this one.
ReplyDeleteDear Jo, as long as we are asking for hints, may I inquire if Lazarus and his world makes a cameo appearance in Black Hawk? I found the glimpse of it riveting in My Lord And Spymaster and loved how Adrian mentioned Black John and his son in Spymaster's Lady (then seeing him show up in the padding ken). It seemed to convey that Adrian never severed ties with select cronies from his days as "Hand." If it's not too spoilery to ask, does the book cover one later period in time or does it cover a lot/ and or have flashbacks? Please feel to decline to answer anything you deem too spoilery (or impertinent).
ReplyDeleteThank you as always.
Hi Christine --
ReplyDeleteI've not gone back to Lazarus in the Black Hawk book. I would like to see him again. *g* I'm very proud of Lazarus.
Maybe I can do a cameo in the Pax story.
The words, "Oh, yes. We have the whole lot. I'd say Pax is the strongest secondary character in this one." make me giddy with excitement.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost impossible to proof your work, and I'm guessing it's ten times harder when it's a novel.
It is indeed difficult to proof your own work. I found the speech-to-text feature of the machine TREMENDOUSLY helpful.
ReplyDeleteBut they only let me make fifty corrections or changes. :[
That was 40 typos.
8 clarification of major plot points.
2 improvements in the writing.
You just can't fix stuff in the page proofs.
I like the new look, Jo. My stomach hurts just thinking about what you went through. Computer malfeasance makes me crazy.
ReplyDeleteNow that the page proofs are in, I suppose we'll be seeing some more excerpts from Black Hawk (she writes, trying to sound nonchalant).
It is very disturbing to me when anything related to the computer or the net stops working.
ReplyDeleteIt's so . . . close to me, somehow. These are the tools of my trade. I have an emotional connection to them.
As to Black Hawk excerpts, I'm thinking I'll do that stuff in mid October, when the books are actually available. Otherwise, it'll just get forgotten.
I like the new look of the blog but don't even want to think about how much work went into it. On to the most important stuff.:) I can hardly wait to read Black Hawk - to finally have Adrian's story. And I'll be glad to run into Lazarus again. Hurry up November!!
ReplyDeleteHi Carolyn --
ReplyDeleteI hate to say I wasn't able to work Lazarus into Black Hawk.
I'm playing with the thought of including him in the Pax story. I dunnoh. I think I'm ready to set a story in England. I really am.