i'm thankful for not getting food poisoning.
i hope everybody else can say that too.
we ended up going to a vietnamese restaurant, then a long walk because it was around 55 degrees here, then home for pumpkin pie which i actually didn't bake myself.
yesterday it was back to work.
i found out my new editor prefers to receive the manuscript by email, so that's given me several more days to tinker.
the above photo was taken a few days ago.
this was the stage where i tag everything that might need attention. the cards contain reminders of things that need to be inserted. i use the scissors to cut scenes and move them to other chapters where i staple them to the adjoining text.
i hope to send it off wednesday or thursday. then comes the period of waiting and high anxiety since not a soul has seen a word of it.
19 comments:
Isn't the whole process high anxiety?
BTW, evilkev loves your new photo. Chainsmoking baby. Priceless.
sandra, it's all anxiety, with some hitting 10 on the stress meter. waiting for editorial reaction/response is always 10 for me. the book release is also 10.
i'm glad evilkev appreciates the chainsmoking baby. :D
fantastic post on your blog today. haven't read it all, and want to get back over there when i can savor it.
I love reading about this part of the processs (and Sandra has shared a lot of details on her blog, too). I've been there at the publishing end, proof reading manuscripts, but...
And, yes, that smoking baby rocks. Give him some wings and you've got a Van Halen cover.
Your piles look a lot more organized than mine. haha! I wish you luck with the waiting, it's terrible for me too.
Glad Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. =D
Thanks Anne. It's a mouthful...
patrick, i almost took this post down right after i put it up because i thought it was boring. but i remembered people telling me that the writing posts are some of their favorites, so i left it up.
you are so right about the van halen cover! i never noticed that before!
kelly, i've become more organized in the past few years. not sure how that's come about. it wasn't intentional, but it does make life a little easier.
fingers crossed for smooth sailing from here...
i enjoyed the pic of the process. it's neat to see the various methods behind the madnesses.
Is it hard to go back to the computer and find the passages you need to move after you cut them out?
The cutting and stapling must be a nice arts & crafts break, at least. :D
I'm wishing positive vibes your way.
No food poisoning...always worth extra points.
Love the photo & yes, I always like hearing about process. Although scissors, staples, tape - kinda reminds me of Burroughs and his bathtub cut-ups. I always thought that took a certain something to be willing to just cut everything up, moosh it around and see what you get. I think my anxiety amp would explode if I tried something like that. Your method seems a bit more sane.
:o)
I'm glad you didn't decide to remove the post. I also like hearing about the process.
Good luck with the manuscript. :)
thanks, emeraldcite!
jason, every chapter is a file, so i always write the file name on the removed section. otherwise i WOULD lose it! it is like crafts! LOL! i normally don't use the colored squares. i got those because i got the bright idea to make one of those charts where every character is a color. total waste of time for me. but purty.
angie, i don't think i could do anything that random. well, it would be fun but i doubt it would make much sense. i tend to have a lot of mini-scenes that i'm always shifting around and those scenes can often go several different places. but of course one place is surely the best place. but sometimes moving it to that best place can throw off another scene. arghh.
thanks, jeff!
I tried using cards once. I like the idea. I think I got it from Syd Field (you know, one of those guys who makes money telling other people how to write screenplays -he's pretty de rigeur, all things considered). I think the colors would be a problem for me because I'm too visual -I'd attach too much thematic importance to the colors and would lose my train of thought.
I do like the cards. Sadly, it turns out they in no way substitute for plot. Total waste of time in that sense.
Once again admiring of you and so many of your readers that seem to have gotten over the plot thing...
bekbek, i'm EXTREMELY visual, so maybe that's why the cards didn't work for me. they just added another layer of confusion. or maybe several layers. but i do like using them for notes because they feel good and look good.
Did you know that the bergamot oil in Earl Grey tea acts as a mild anti-depressant? (I just found this out, thought I'd share.)
I drink herbal teas to help calm my nerves. Anxiety sucks.
heather, i didn't know that. thanks for the tip. i'm a big tea drinker, but it's usually darjeeling -- earl grey is always my second choice, but maybe it should be my first....
So... no problem with plot, then?
(I swear I want Amazon to just sell plots.)
Totally off-topic, I just tried to come here by typing "anne" in the URL. Turns out Firefox assumes I want Anne Geddes site.
Which leads to the impression you really like orange babies in cute outfits.
Seems... a little counter to your... chain-smoking baby.
I'm just sayin'.
Three years ago m y mother-in-law gave all of us food poisoning at Thanksgiving. I always knew she had it out for me, just never thought she'd poison her whole family just to get me.
Good luck on the home stretch!
bekbek: LOL! anne geddes should do some noir babies.
:D
i actually tried the colored cards because i thought maybe i was missing out on something. nope.
jaye: mother-in-laws are evil. they will go to any extreme to get you, even poisoning the whole family. then they'll manage to turn it around and make it look like the poisoning was your fault.
I love seeing photos like this. Lets us into the inner workings of your writer's mind.
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