Friday, January 22, 2010

The blue blue sea - or the wonderful world of Word Track.

Started this one about a week ago in the flush of - yee haa - after hitting send on my structural edit.  Then got sidetracked.

But, the edit was done and dusted.  After weeks of being married to my laptop, even taking it out to the Sydney Test so I could spend the hours between securing a good seat on the bottom deck of the Old Stand and the start of play, tapping away in a corner of the stand, it was finally all finished. 

Of course, since hitting send, through the hot humid sleepless Sydney nights that have followed, all sorts of second thoughts and second guesses have emerged. 

Was such-and-such a term actually in common use in 1992 I fret, scurrying back to the net for confirmation - knowing in the back of my mind that I've fact-checked this time and time again. 

Would that scene work better in a different location, I wonder. 

Just how many typos have slipped through, camouflaged by the red font and red underlining of new content in Word-Track. 

And now ........ a whole new colour scheme awaits.  The wide blue sea of the Word Track line edit. 

My poor poor editor is currently grappling with my profligate and inconsistent use of things like the "..." and the ";" not to mention the  ":" and the "-".   She assures me she loves rolling up her sleeves and getting stuck right into the language at a line edit level.  As she's a fellow cricket tragic, I just hope the dulcet tones of "The Uncles" provide her with a soothing backdrop for the task.

I think the first slab of it will arrive next week.  From the sneak preview it looks as if me and the laptop will soon be joined at the hip once again.  And despite the encouragement and assurances that what you've submitted isn't setting new lows in abuse of language,  it's easy to start to think you're an ignorant unlettered fool as you go through these processes!  Talk about learning curves.       

Spending the window between the blue sea arriving, poking the next book into life.  Starting to get lost in the research, (will I never learn?)  But it's hard to resist when it translates into a fascinating morning talking to Clive Small about background for the setting of Ned's next case.  His book, "Smack Express"  triggered lots of ideas when I read it, and the follow up "Blood Money" is due out on February 1.

Always a comfort to meet and talk to authors who have survived editing and come out the other side!