Well, dear readers, I’m happy to report that miraculous miracle three has almost shown up so I’ll not have to deal with merde for a while, at least that’s the hope. So, that was very good news. The other major news o’ the day is that all the fixes have been entered and I even did a few of my own that I happened to catch. I got about seven hours of sleep and spent most of the day entering fixes from the hard copy proofer. I also did some work at the piano and on the computer.
Of course, Muse Margaret and I discussed many items from the remaining two proofers and did what we were comfortable with. There are certain times when even though to be grammatically proper something sounds so alien to me and the Muse that I just leave it as is. I’m not sure one always needs to be absolutely proper, and the fact that only one proofer of the three was calling for it tells me that things have gotten looser. While this book is in the third person, it’s my usual weird kind of third person that’s actually kind of, in its weird way, speaking for the characters. So when things sound awkward or too proper it just doesn’t feel right. That said, I used a few things in the first half of the book that are archaic because that half of the story covers almost a century and I used language very specifically whilst going through those years, and it changes in subtle ways as time passes. I have no idea if anyone will like the book, but I have to say I did exactly what I wanted to do and I’m very proud of it. Emotionally, there are certain moments in this book that harken back to the Kritzer books, although this one is nothing like those. Doing the fixes and talking through them is very tedious to do, but it must be done, and all three proofers found different things and had different solutions to certain things, and they caught a few whoppers that I might never have caught. If past history is anything to go by I’ll find more the next time I proof, which will be the designed book.
I finally got ready, stopped at the mail place to pick up mail, and then had a nice dinner meeting at a wonderful Eyetalian jernt called Spumonte in North Hollywood. I’ve eaten there several times and it’s always great. I tried something new this time – linguine with salmon in a pink sauce – just fantastic and a perfect portion. I also had a Caesar salad. We laughed a lot, discussed stuff, and a good time was had by all, which was nice since all hasn’t been having a good time lately.
Then I came home, entered the final fixes and sent the book to Grant, who will hopefully just do it. I have something he wants and I told him it shall be his if we can get this done right away, so hopefully that will be a motivator. Having a motivator is always a good thing. The book is also dedicated to him and his family, since his mom was what gave me the idea for part of the story. So, there is a chance we might have books by late March or early April, which would be great. If Grant gets this designed by the weekend, I’ll go ahead and put it up for pre-order. I have a pretty good idea as to what the little fun extra will be for those who purchase directly. After all that, I just listened to some music and had a telephonic conversation.
Today there’ll be some garage organizing, and I will finish assigning songs then get all that sheet music together and to our cast. I’ll eat, do some banking, hopefully pick up some packages, then relax.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, seeing more edited video, a birthday dinner for Sami Staitman, and seeing a show. I’m sure there are many other things to do but it is late and my brain has ceased to function in any meaningful way. I’ve also been having some of the oddest dreams – neither bad, nor good, just odd.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do some organizing, eat, bank, hopefully pick up packages, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite movie themes? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have done all the fixes for the time being and even happier to have sent the book off to Grant.