Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Well, I let a Tuesday slip by me at last without a blog produced! It was as inevitable as rain. In Scotland. But I have to say it was a surprise to me. I mean I thought I was going to write one at least twice yesterday, and …
Continue reading The streak is broken… Long Live the Streak!
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I did not remain in editing hell, my friends, though I am grateful I visited, because I fixed two small issues that came out on the multiple repeated passes I made as I chased some words and phrases through the text. In short controlled bursts. One would have …
Continue reading Escape Velocity Achieved, New World Sighted.
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! It was just a couple of things, honest. I have opened the door to editing hell. I was just checking where the eyes were, none glued to anything inappropriate in the text, as can sometimes happen. I checked because I was reminded of Don McNair’s book on Editor-proofing …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! So a few weeks ago I’d finished again. Well, now I’ve started again. This is not editing hell. Exactly. But I have felt moved to fix some detail work. I decided to remove all sets of parentheses (there were three), and will give $15 to the first person …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! This week finds me breaking out of one funk, and cognizant of another. First, I have been doing a close reading of the manuscript, and have been noticing the little things that need to be addressed: small fixes for flow. Read 90 pages today, found one misplaced ‘and’ …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Procrastination and doubt. I have written about doubt before, in a series I think. It was quite a long time ago. I thought I had compartmentalized my doubt: not exactly put it away, but perhaps contained it. I felt confident I had developed the tools and the knowledge …
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Okay, so the copy edit is complete. One more hill climbed, another mountain ahead. I have started the read aloud proofing pass, and am 5.5 to 7% of the way through that, depending on criteria chosen. No graphical representation employed. So far I have added and removed equal …
Continue reading Reading aloud to the Demon of Perfectionism
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! Progress continues with the copy edit now 80-85% of the way there, depending on the criteria used. Finish line in sight. Reread and proofing remain. I saw Dune 2 this afternoon. No spoilers, but I feel a little let down by it, after loving the first film. There …
Continue reading Dune 2 and the difficulty of story execution
Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! I proceed apace, copy edit now at 69-72% complete (no graphic), depending upon criteria. Given that positive progress, and multiple walks in wind and sun, my mind has been turning to the next story to obsess me. I wrote two excerpts yesterday, plus a brief reminder to myself …
Continue reading Falling in love with my next novel, one conversation at a time…
Hello my friends and the occasional relative! SPFBO 8 is over, its winner revealed here. Congratulations to Small Miracles! A close run contest – check it out for some quality writing and great stories! So I finally finished #6. For me this is head and shoulders the best of the six I have read. It …
Roderick T. Macdonald 