Woo HOO! I’ve just completed editing and proofreading the first 1/3 of Bob Brantner’s sci fi novel. It’s truly a page-turner.
I expected to get faster as I went along, but the manuscript has various repeating issues which require the same dedication to detail, nuance, and precision, so now I think it’s going to take more than 100 hours to do it justice. The good new is that it should be down significantly from the 155 hours I initially estimated and quoted, but not by a lot.
I have truncated or rewritten a lot of sentences to make them more concise and compelling. (This is typical of a lot of manuscripts.) I’ve shaved off about 6K words up to this point, so if that same equation remains to the end, 18K words will come out, which will reduce the manuscript to about 168,000 words. Cut that in about half, and each book will be about 85K words, which is the perfect length for sci fi novels. I don’t think the manuscript will cut precisely in half, though. Bob says Book 1 will be longer than Book 2.
And he has another manuscript (not sci fi) for me to tackle after this one…
NIGHT-TIME EDITING
I’ve done 90% of the editing between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. This time of year, I retire very early, so by 1 a.m. I’m well-rested and can’t fall back to sleep, so I get up and tackle the next portion of the manuscript. It’s quiet and undisturbed during these hours, and that adds to my ability to truly focus and enjoy the task before me. There are no distractions or other shiny objects to divert my attention. And doing it this way frees up the brief daylight hours to walk, read, and pursue other activities of daily living. So, it works for me!
CHRISTMAS IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER…
I’m having a hard time reconciling myself to the reality that Christmas is suddenly fewer than two weeks away. I mean, didn’t 2023 just roll in? Nope. 2024 is about to roll in. The older I get, the faster the time goes. And that’s okay with me, but I just find it astounding!
I’m as ready for Christmas as I’m ever going to be this year. I’ve bought some stocking stuffers for my sister and a few things (mostly travel items) for Lisa, and that’s about it for my shopping list because I simply can’t do more this year, since I’m saving everything I possibly can to be able to ensure I’ll be okay (mad money-wise and loss of income-wise) to fly away for two weeks and not earn a damn dime during that time. I have never in my life had a two-week vacation before, even when I worked at Warner Bros., so being “unemployed” for that long concerns me. But, if all goes according to plan, and I keep working often enough between now and then, I should be fine.
…AND BEFORE TOO LONG LISA AND I WILL BE WINGING OUR WAY TO NEW ZEALAND FOR TWO WEEKS
The trip to New Zealand is less than 90 days away. In fact, three months from today we will be enjoying our first week Down Under. We have plans to visit Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop in Auckland, and Hobbiton and the mud baths and the glowworm cave. If we have mad money left over after those, we will visit a zoo or two to see native NZ wildlife, and we plan to visit the beach (which will be free). MOSTLY, we plan to hang with Helen Schofield and Deborah Davies, because who knows if we’ll ever have the opportunity again?
I KEEP WONDERING IF PATCHES AND JASMINE/JAZZY WILL STILL BE ALIVE BY THEN
My oldest goat, Jazzy, has lived past her breed’s expiration date by a landslide already, and my oldest cat, Patches has to be 18 and change now. I don’t want to have to worry about Jackie having to deal with them if they die while I’m in NZ, so my hope is that they’ll avoid those dates when they cross Rainbow Bridge.
Jackie doesn’t mind caring for my pets (now that I no longer have rats) and the chickens and aquarium, but I very much doubt she would want to take Jazzy’s remains to the rendering plant in Graham in my absence. I guess I’ll just leave her the info and she can call them to come get her if she dies on her watch. It will cost $100 to have her colllected (versus $50 to deliver her) but that’s do-able.
Guess that’s it for this time.
