"'Cause sometimes it rains fish from the sky."

[greygirlbeast]

Bitter cold here in Providence. Right now, 18F, though the wind chill has it feeling like 3F. The snow is hardly even beginning to melt. The sun is bright, and the sky is a blue bowl laid over the city.

It's very difficult to make entries after days that are consumed with line edits, as line editing is surely one of the least interesting and most tedious stages of writing a novel. Fixing commas, misspellings, grammatical errors, etc. Hundreds upon hundreds that I couldn't be bothered to get right to start with. At this point, we're working through the notes that Sonya (sovay) kindly supplied after she read the manuscript for The Red Tree. Then we have two additional sets of line-edit notes to work through. Of course, this is all in advance of the actual copyeditor's notes. We made it halfway through the book yesterday.

I also carefully read over the editorial letter, and it's one of the best I've ever gotten. I was amenable to pretty much every suggestion my editor made, which was an enormous relief. I still have to email her, though I may not get to that until tomorrow.

I need to get the epilogue written, but I wanted to go over the pages a couple of times first.

See? Duller than dishwater.

I've only left the house once since the tooth extraction last Thursday, and I think I need to get out of here for a bit. But that probably can't happen until tomorrow.

The primary function of this journal for the next couple of weeks will likely be to promote A is for Alien, due out next month from Subterranean Press. To repeat what I said yesterday, please, if you have not yet ordered the book, and are able, it would be greatly appreciated if you did so now. It contains some of my best short-story work to date, including "Bradbury Weather" and "Riding the White Bull." And it's going to be a truly beautiful volume:



The other helpful thing would be subscribing to Sirenia Digest, which has pretty much become the "bread and butter" of my income. So, if you want to help, and are able, there you go, and I thank you ahead of time. If you've already done both these things, as I said yesterday, you rock. Also, I'm wondering if anyone might be kind enough to volunteer to create a banner ad from the cover of A is for Alien?

I think my coffee is freezing. I should go before Herr Platypus brandishes hisherits venomous spurs again.

Comments

[andsaca369.livejournal.com]

I can't subscribe to Sirenia yet, although I'd like to (I used to, and had to cancel when my income dropped from two for the household to one), and I'm not yet in a place where I can do so again. This makes me v. unhappy, as I enjoyed it.

However, my gf and I are both fairly talented with Photoshop- we'd be happy to give the banner ad a go for you, if you'd like. :) At least have one to add to what will probably be a few to choose from.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

However, my gf and I are both fairly talented with Photoshop- we'd be happy to give the banner ad a go for you, if you'd like. :) At least have one to add to what will probably be a few to choose from.

That would be grand. Please do feel free to give it a shot. Thank you.

[andsaca369.livejournal.com]

Just back from work; sorry for the lateness of reply. Any preference for the dimensions for your banner, or shall I just go to with gusto? :)

Also: static, or animated?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Also: static, or animated?

Both or either. Danke.

Gusto is good.

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

A Is for Alien has been pre-ordered, and I await it with great anticipation.

Hundreds upon hundreds that I couldn't be bothered to get right to start with.

However I phrase it, this is going to sound snarky, and please know that it isn't intended to be; I'm deeply curious. Your descriptions of your writing process sound more painstaking than that of almost any other author I've read about. How is it that your first complete draft, the product of long, slow, laborious writing needs so much rewriting? I have a hard time imagining myself being able to proceed slowly and carefully without saying just what I mean, and off grammar (for instance) would make me crazy. If writing quickly, I let things slide, but writing slowly means I can't usually proceed unless it is some flavor of "right."

I know The Red Tree had to be written faster than you would have liked, and I know one sees things after a few weeks away from a manuscript, so I'm wondering if those have some role in the Dreaded Line-Edits. Anything you can share about this would be great to hear. Also -- I know different authors work differently, and I'm not asking you to talk about any aspect of your process that you don't discuss.


(By the way, thanks for the link to the Locus offer. The interview was a pleasure to read.)

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I'm deeply curious. Your descriptions of your writing process sound more painstaking than that of almost any other author I've read about. How is it that your first complete draft, the product of long, slow, laborious writing needs so much rewriting?

This isn't rewriting. This is just correcting typos, basically. Yes, I am a fastidious writer, and my first drafts are essentially the final texts, but I'm also a sloppy typist. And when you consider that The Red Tree is 95,835 words long, it's hardly surprising that you get several hundred typos. No matter how careful I am, it inevitably happens. Does that make sense?

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does indeed -- thank you. I've yet to copyedit or edit a manuscript of that length, so I suppose I'll understand a little better down the road. I do know the agony of published typos, so I suppose that's an added reason to take time line-editing.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I do know the agony of published typos, so I suppose that's an added reason to take time line-editing.

Thing is, even after I've done three rounds of line editing, and the copy editor and editor have been over the ms., there will still be typos that see print. It never ceases to amaze me.

[stardustgirl.livejournal.com]

I think there is some sort of unwritten rule of publishing that there must be at least one error, no matter how small, otherwise the book would be too perfect for this imperfect world and reality as we know it would implode.

On the other hand, that could be interesting so I applaud your efforts at attempting to make it happen.

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

...otherwise the book would be too perfect for this imperfect world and reality as we know it would implode.

I understand that the Order is working on this project at this very moment.

[timesygn.livejournal.com]

" ... line editing is surely one of the least interesting and most tedious stages of writing a novel."

Booze helps.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Booze helps.

Sadly, it makes me too stupid.

[corucia.livejournal.com]

It's been cold out here in MN: -20F low to -5F high yesterday, with today looking to be about ten degrees warmer. We're deep into the coldest part of the winter. Still better than the winters I spent in Boston; it's a dry cold here, thankfully.

A is for Alien was pre-ordered ages ago. I've been too busy to read the most recent Sirenia - it's at the top of the heap for the weekend's free reading (if I get any...).

Distraction?

[cliff52.livejournal.com]

I know you're busy, but...
You may enjoy this picture:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=152997&id=1521977892&ref=nf

Re: Distraction?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Nice. Thank you. And to answer the "what is this fossil" question asked on the page, it's the internal shell of a sort of extinct squild-like cephalopod known as a belemnite.

banners

[serasempre.livejournal.com]

This one is the ad council standard horizontal size:



This one is the ad council standard vertical banner size:



I hope they're helpful. Good luck on the edits.

Re: banners

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. Thak you so very much!

cold and typos

[nd-scot.livejournal.com]

I undestand it was -36 in Grand Forks North Dakota last night.

My newspaper eidtor father once published a story about a wedding in our local paper, and it said "Wedding cows were exchanged." The mother-of-the-bride was NOT hapy.

[sovay]

At this point, we're working through the notes that Sonya (sovay) kindly supplied after she read the manuscript for The Red Tree.

And I am sure there are still all sorts of weirdness my brain skidded over . . .

[spiritworld25.livejournal.com]

GOOD LUCK!!!! :)