finishing up work

I can't believe how full this day has been, and it's not even noon yet. The boys had early morning dentist appointments. Just cleaning and fluoride treatments and x-rays. Oh my. Everything looks good for now, but both boys require orthodontic intervention. Then, a mad dash was made to Expo, where the boys are attending summer Discovery Club, so they could make the 9:30 bus for their field trip to Richardson Nature Center. Lucky them! I would rather be in an outdoor classroom than cleaning house and packing. Mad dash to the hardware store to have keys cut for the teenager who is cat sitting while we're away. Then mad dash home for a conference call with the author whose manuscript I have spent the past two months carving up. Deep cleansing breath. And a cup of coffee. My first of the day. I tell myself I probably didn't need the caffeine.

The conversation with the author went better than expected. When I last posted, I was hunkering down to do some serious molding and sculpting, which took five days. Typically during a developmental edit, I will scrutinize the manuscript for logic and clarity, as well as for tone and audience. In this manuscript, each of these elements required a lot of work. I did a fair amount of sentence and paragraph rearranging...all the while, leaving alone the errors in punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Those corrections will come later, when the author has made her revisions and I do a substantive edit, which is when I will make the author's prose sing.

I love what I do, especially when the author says "Thank you for your hard work," and "You made great recommendations that will help me." And, I think it ameliorates the blow of drastic measures, such as cutting an entire chapter. If I were a surgeon, it would be like removing a patient's gall bladder, an organ that, even though it labors for the digestive system, the body can survive without. The author had a chapter that essentially formed the basis of another book, but didn't really fit into this one. I stewed over how to make it work, trying as many different angles as I could come up with, and nothing made sense.

So I made a case to the author for cutting the chapter. Most authors would blow a gasket, feeling like their time had been wasted but also that their very important scholarship would suffer. I'm not joking. I've seen this happen so many times that I worked myself into an anticipatory lather with this manuscript. Giving the author a reasoned decision, though, as well as some time to percolate, may have helped. Either that or she's the most awesome author on the face of the Earth. Or a bit of both. She saw my point of view, but also offered an alternative that I think will work.

But the manuscript is done and out the door so I may take a well-deserved vacation. I had forgotten what it felt like to work like crazy to meet pre-vacation deadlines.