*Expletives were not deleted from this post.*
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| A marked-up-for-editing snippet from my book, That Fatal Kiss, coming this September! Lord willing and the police permitting, as my Portuguese forebears would say. |
I've been on "stay-cation" since Tuesday, June 18. I had a bunch of revisions/editing to do (hence, "revediting"), based on the notes of the super gal* I employed to copy-edit That Fatal Kiss (TFK). Spent the first couple weeks mostly catching up with Facebook and the Twitter, futzing with my blog's font and text color (as you may already know), and watching lotsa Bones re-runs on the tee-vee. So, you know, I was super productive.
Knowing full well that I needed to get my ass in gear if I wanted to release my book on time, I pushed myself as hard as I could to get through my revediting during my last week off. Nearly every waking hour, for the past 7 days, were spent working on my manuscript.
Please understand that I'm in love with my main characters, Hades and Persephone. I adore them. I lust after them in a quasi-incestuous way. (OK, I lust after Hades, but I think Persephone's a super cool chick.) I've enjoyed tagging along on their courtship journey, immensely.
But I swear, if I have to:
- do one more damned "Find and Replace" because, somehow, I missed getting rid of a word the first hundred times I edited this book;
- pore through this manuscript, looking for quotation marks that are in a font different from the text (how the fuck did that happen???);
- "...delete one more goddamn adverb!" she typed vexedly;
just one more motherfucking time, I may have to cut my own throat.
I am so heartily tired of working on this bitch. SO. TIRED. I'm more than ready to hire someone to do a final post-revediting proofread, format this shit for e-readers, and make this fucker available for purchase online. TFK, I am DONE with you! DONE, DONE, DONE!!!!!
::sighs::
OK, I know I'm not done with you. I know we still have some matters to sort out before I can unleash you upon an unsuspecting world. And you know I heart you, baby, right? Right??? I just need a little breakie-woo. And then I'm-a polish you off, dress you up real purty-like, and put you up on them virtual bookshelves so others can fall in love with you too. XOXOX
*The super gal I hired to edit TFK is Jena O'Connor. Jena has a B.S. and M.A. in English, teaches English at the high school level and has taught writing at the college level, and has released her own romance novel, Mixing Up a Memory. She's friendly, prompt, highly skilled, and has extensive knowledge of the romance genre. Also, her rates are amazingly affordable and she does great work. If you need an editor, I highly recommend you check out her Web site, Practical Proofing.
I so get you. Revisions are a marathon of nightmare proportions. It's like you showed up for a little jog with a friend and find out it's really an Iron Man Triathlon. And I know the "I hate you, you stupid ms!" feeling. It will end eventually. Good luck! :-)
ReplyDeleteI completely understand the frustration. But the joy of publication will come soon! All the best!
ReplyDeleteThis is how I feel about Cutlass at the moment. LOL. I have been wanting to read a book about Hades and Persephone!! I mean, for reals. I have a weird obsession with them. So, I hope your frustrations end so it's out on time!
ReplyDelete@Lexa - "Revisions are a marathon of nightmare proportions." You got THAT right, Sister! :-)
ReplyDelete@Rocky - Yes. And how weird that I'm wigging out about it...I feel like I'm fixing to send my baby off to Kindergarten on the school bus, all by itself...
@Ashley - For reals, so do I! ;-)
I've never had a child, but I understand about sending your "baby off to Kindergarten on the school bus." It's true, isn't it? These stories are our creations? Our babies? We send them out into the world. But from what I've seen, your baby will thrive!!!
DeleteYes, I really think they are our babies. Or, in my case, my spawn. :-) Thanks for the encouraging words, Rocky.
DeleteWanting to cut your own throat just means you're almost there Mina. Just hang on! I'm not there yet. I'm in rewrite hell and just want to cut everyone else's throat.
ReplyDeleteLOL. Thanks for commiserating. Now that I'm back at the office, all I want to be doing is playing with my little darlings again. :-)
DeleteI'm so proud of you for focusing! I can barely focus on 1 blogpost... Never mind a whole book!! I'd go insane!
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Valerie
Wouldn't it be easier if we just wrote short stories? I feel like my revisions will never end. Never. I will be an old woman with a foot in the grave and the edits will still not be done. So I write something new, and then there's just more editing to do. Ugh.
ReplyDelete@Valerie - as regards writing a book, I find a bit of insanity helps! :-)
ReplyDelete@Tonja - OMG, I feel the same way. Until I've got TFK out there, I keep feeling this compulsion to tinker with it. Meanwhile, it makes me anxious that I do, like maybe it's not really ready for the world! GAH!!! :-)
First you think, "Ugh, it's just one of those days."
ReplyDeleteThen you think, "Ugh, it's just one of those weeks!!!"
Then you think, "Ugh it's just ONE OF THOSE MONTHS GRRR..."
And then it's "I HATE MY LIFE ARRRGGGHHH!!!!!"
Yep. Patience and Zen-ness and inner peace are things that are hard to find during revising. Break a leg! :) I can't imagine the additional pressure of having a deadline. At least you have great critiquers! :)
Well, it's a self-imposed deadline, but I really want/need to stick to it, as I've already paid for an ad in RT Book Reviews magazine (to run in October)!!! So yes...the heat is on! :-D
DeleteOh I completely understand the deja vu feeling of reading through the same text over and over until you know the whole thing off-by-heart and therefore can't see a single problem. But I must say, getting your quote marks in a different font takes a lot of skill! :-)
ReplyDelete::bows::
DeleteI suspect that happened because the doc was created in one version of Word, then converted to a newer version of Word. At least, I'm guessing that's what caused the quotation marks to be a different font from the text. Or maybe it was, you know, Satan. Yeah, it was probably Satan. He is the great Adversary, after all. :-)
Like most writers, I thoroughly understand the 'cut my throat' verse. Been there to the point of hating my novel and if I have to read it one more time I'm going to gag! Not until I see it in print will I feel secure, and then I'll get pissed when I find a typo! It always happens! Good Luck, Mina!!
ReplyDeleteRevediting. That ought to be copyrighted! Or patented...or something where everyone who uses it has to give you money. I love made up words like that. My personal favorite that gets the most use is procrastiknitting. I do that with the TV on, YET, and this is the best part, if someone (like engineers who can't idle and are always doing something useful) says I'm not being useful I can argue, but I'm knitting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for understanding my total hatred for the heat. Amen sister.
Tina @ Life is Good
Hey Mina,
ReplyDeleteYou've been anxiously waiting for a comment from me. I can sense these things. So, despite being exhausted, at almost four thirty in the morning, I'm leaving you one of my highly collectable comments :) Or something like that.
Call me Mr. asshat, but I don't get this having somebody edit my shit. Nobody messes with my crap. Anyway, you will be fine, dear friend. I reckon, once the dust settles, you are going to be an even better known celebrity.
Your starstruck fan,
Gary :)
Mina,
ReplyDeleteI just came off a week of the very same mind blowing challenges. So wish we could get together and commiserate! Drink lots a alcohol and eat chocolate, but here in the blogging world this is it, so sending you virtual love instead!
I think it's wonderful that you have a great editor that is so, so important!
I'm impressed that you've gotten this far, and know that you won't give up. I wish that I were as brave as you are, or an accomplished "procrastiknitter" like Tina!
ReplyDeleteJulie
I sooo know what you mean. By the 30th time I have to re-edit the 100th draft of a story, I'm just about to go on a killing spree. But hang on there. Light is waiting for you at the end of the tunnel. It's so bright and warm... so worth it!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you, Mina, as you continue to forge ahead on this great journey. =)
@Cathrina - I so totally live in dread of finding stuff in the published version that was missed during final edits! GAH!!!!!
ReplyDelete@Tina - Procrastiknitting is BRILLIANT!!!!!
@Gary - LOL; you're my hero, Dude. :-D
@Yolanda - Agreed!
@Julie - Thank you. I'm mostly a coward, and certainly fearful of what's going to befall my baby once I've published it, but I've just got this feeling that I have to put it out there...
@Gina - Thanks, and ditto!
You make me think of Jules in Pulp Fiction. LOL "Say what just one more goddamned time..." You poor thing . Huge Hugs, my sister.
ReplyDeleteROTFL. Thanks, darlin'. Editing is the very devil, ain't it?
Delete