Paksworld

OK, gang, I’m a lot better today…not well yet, but definitely on the way.  So: last day of contest entries (in case you’ve been holding back) is Friday, January 4, 2013 with a time-stamp deadline of midnight.    I should have an answer for you by Sunday night (giving myself extra time to be sure I get an accurate count of entrants and am not confused by multiples.  The old brain isn’t necessarily 100% yet.)

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The nasty virus got me Christmas afternoon and has been creating a ruckus in my throat, head, and lungs since.   My throat feels parboiled, my voice is gone, my head’s been aching savagely, there’s been moderate fever and very little actual sleep because something hurts or I wake up coughing ten minutes after I doze off.

The ability to complain suggests I’m getting better.   But I’m not ending the contest until I’m well enough to enjoy all the entries (haven’t looked, last few days.)

Joy to all who celebrate Christmas, and also to those who don’t…hug the ones you love (or send loving thoughts if you’re not with them.)   It’s been just a wee bit hectic  around here the past week, and I’ll be leaving shortly for the city (again) to sing (again), this time the late service on Christmas Eve.   One family member isn’t feeling well and is staying home; the other is coming with me.

We have Weather in the offing (60% chance of thunderstorms after midnight, and “…some may be severe.”)   My sinuses insist it’s all taking aim right at us, but it’s a broad front, and whatever we get will be less than is supposed to land (is already landing?) on the lower Mississippi Valley.    I got the pies made today; we have other things I’ll cook tomorrow.

Be as happy as you can be, and I’ll be back around the Paksworld site in a few days.     Peace and joy to you all.

Should have done this at once…this is the topic under which to post your poetic genius as a comment.    We already have one entry,  under the Good News header, but please repost as a comment here, for the benefit of your lazy hostess, so she can find them all in one place.

…is I should be getting an ARC later this week, so the contest is just about ready.

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When I wrote the original books in this universe, I had reasons for everything, but…in hindsight…not all those reasons were good ones.   You remember I told you about the naming conventions…using root-names for characters and then suffixes which suggested (were supposed to suggest) different origins for them, like Seli, Selis, Selits, and Tam, Tamis…??  And you probably remember that, in hindsight, this was sheer h-e-double-hockey-sticks for the copy-editor and probably did not enrich the reading experience nearly as much as I’d hoped.

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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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There were two comments in the Moderation box; I thought I approved both of them, but only one showed up in Comments a moment later.    Sometimes I hit the wrong button, and apparently this was one of those times.   Feel free to re-post your comment, if you like.  (I thought it was a nice comment, for whatever that’s worth, since I zapped it.)

Moderation’s empty at the moment, so whoever had a post that was delayed showing up, and still hasn’t shown up–my sincere apologies.  The Moderator (and that would be me) goofed.  Since I look at content, not the names or the post being commented on, (I save that for after, when I’m actually answering comments)  I have no hope of knowing whose it was.  Because some days are like this and I’m an idiot.

EDITED:   Just looked at my inbox, and the comment shows up there…so why isn’t it in Comments, or (in a panic about accidentally zapping it) did I miss it and it was right in front of my face?   (Because some days are like this and I’m an idiot?)