Paksworld

I am now spending my days peering carefully, line by line, at the copy of the copy-edited manuscript (on the left) and the page proofs (on the right.)  These two stacks of paper, and the “completed” pages of each (to the right of the right stack and the left of the left stack) take up a significant portion of the kitchen table.  So far I’ve found only two  errors.  One where my correction of the CE’s change wasn’t picked up (same change was picked up elsewhere) and one where both the CE and I missed an original error.   This is good, and I may skim a little faster later on, even though I know there’s a late change to watch out for.

Kitchen table set up for page proofs: from top to bottom, checked copy edit, copy edit, page proofs, checked page proofs.  Pages sticking out toward camera have errors.   Instruction letters from publisher to the right, with pencil sharpener, also 3×5 yellow card w/notes.

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I don’t know if this will continue, but there’s a stuffed cow in Book V.    There’s a stuffed cow in Book V partly because of an email I got some months back, but also because, as soon as I got the email, the stuffed cow appeared in the book.  At first for no reason.  I stared (mentally) at the stuffed cow and it didn’t even look back.  It wasn’t a very good stuffed cow.  It was big, and badly done, and ugly, and smelled some.  WHY was there a stuffed cow in my book?    I understood it had something to do with the impetus of the email, but not what it had to do with the story.

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At my friend’s daughter’s wedding,  I met my friend’s uncle, whose first name happens to be that of a character in Paksworld.    It’s a fairly unusual name in the U.S.    Naturally, she was curious why I had given that character that name, and wondered if she’d said something about her uncle, way back when.

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The comment that the Gird & Luap omnibus wasn’t available from Audible as an audiobook brought up an issue that I see a lot of in email, so I’m going to mention it here (not, by the way, as a slam at people who ask the questions, Sam in particular this time.   They’re reasonable questions to ask.)   Maybe this will help (and maybe you can boost the signal about the lesser-known ends of publishing.)

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The ensuing days have been busy, and the first essay deadline’s been met.   Though I should be working on the foreword for the 10th anniversary The Speed of Dark, Book V dragged me back (interrupted by watching the Sandy coverage and for friends’ return online after.  Also, there was this 43rd anniversary we had, and yes–we went out to dinner.)    I don’t have the final title for Book V (as you can imagine, communication with Editor has been…er…nonexistent as the whole publishing industry in Manhattan has been struggling to get back to work, along with others.)

But…a critical scene is slowly coming together.    As previously hinted, yes–certain things left hanging in Liar’s Oath will be dealt with.  How to deal with them has been a problem, and how to gauge the effect of magelords who slept through close to 500 years has been tricky.    Is it even possible for them to be wakened and brought out of Kolobia?   What if it’s not?   Will they all just die?  Or–would something kill them in place?    If so, what, and why not before now?

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This is a small bouquet of gratitude to someone on the list who–reading the snippet–found an inconsistency with Oath of Gold and emailed me privately about it overnight.  So this morning I hauled out my copy of that book, and the manuscript, and knew he was right–it was an inconsistency and it needed to be fixed, if possible.   The book’s already past copy editing, so I didn’t know if it could, but I set to work looking for the smallest possible fix that wouldn’t mess up any other previous books.

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Home from ChiCon7 last night, and this morning only a slight residual case of “train legs” (room still feels like it’s swaying slightly).   First load of laundry’s in the machine; second is ready to go.   And right there on the kitchen table is a big box of copy edits for me to go over.    Production has its hooks into Limits of Power now, and when I send the copy edits back, it will be on to the next stage.  But as always, there are deadlines–Production’s deadlines are hard deadlines, the kind that cause a lot of trouble if you miss them, because the next stages of the process have Limits on several other peoples’ schedules–it has a slot, and it has to fall into that slot when it’s supposed to.

Which is why, until the copy edits go back, I will be busier than ever.    Book V did make some progress while I was gone and will get some work even during copy-edit-time,  but the big deal at the moment is getting the copy edits back as quickly as possible.

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Off-topic in one way and on-topic in another, since part of a writer’s life includes keeping the writer’s body capable of functioning.  (Much as writers live in their heads,  all that creativity requires a live, breathing, heart-beating body to sustain it.)   I know that, but circumstances in the family have put the focus elsewhere for the past (mumble) years and I realized this year I’d stretched the elastic limits of this body’s ability to keep up without maintenance.

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If you’re a discovery writer, as I am,  many things appear in the course of writing a book that you didn’t expect.    I’ve talked about plot bombs before.  But there are also character appearances…I’m writing a scene, and suddenly–as if thrust up through the stage–there’s a singing, dancing, clown-faced person right there, and he or she won’t go away.  Belongs there for some reason.  (Or sometimes doesn’t. )

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August has been (on the publishing schedule I was on before) the month to charge ahead full speed and has been producing the most bang for the buck, wordage wise, usually on the back of a pretty solid production in July.   So far, as of August 2, this month is not holding up well.

I know I haven’t been around here much in the last week or so–just answering some comments–but the time has come to yank myself off other online venues as well.   It’s so much easier to post on websites and blogs and give other people advice on writing…and so much harder to do the same wordage on my own book.  But as Neil Gaiman said in his wonderful speech, the time comes when you realize you’re using up your professional time and energy and imagination…on something other than the work you’re here to do.

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