Oh stress! Stressy stressy stress stress.
You know what I hate most about proofs? When you find a sentence that makes you go- oh no! What have they done to my beautiful words?
And then you realise that it was just you who wrote that nonsensical sentence of EVOL.
You know what I love and appreciate most about proofs?
That I actually get to say: this is what I hate about proofs. I am a writer, and get to say that. Praise Jebus.
Oh and also- all the slogging work some brave soul had to do on my nonsensical sentences of EVOL. God bless you, whoever you are.
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Good luck with the proofing! Not long now, is it? Do you get much time to read it over, or do you have to do it really quickly?
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, if you get a week to do proofs you're lucky.
ReplyDeleteI quite enjoy reading through proofs.
Sorry I haven't replied for ages- been busy. Been busy not doing proofs- argh.
ReplyDeleteI got them on Wednesday, and I have until Thurs to send them back. Which means I have to post them on Wed. Which means you get less than a week to do them. You basically get a big chunk of paper through the post that looks exactly like the thing we get in email, but instead of sending an email with your changes, you have to write them next to the bits you want changing in the ms.
I'm telling you this because I had to email Adam about twenty times to figure out what I was supposed to do, so now you can look really clever and I will sit in the corner with my dunce cap on.
He was really nice about it, tho!
And Madelynne- I enjoy it, too. Sometimes I can't believe I wrote something (both in a good and bad way), but I enjoy it. It's nice to hold an actual manuscript in my hands, as I never print anything out, now.
It's a real nice thing to get proofs, as tedious as the proofing itself may be, and I think it is by nature, especially if you're a meticulous perfectionist (raises hand). It's far preferable to unhappy "cow out of the barn" surprises when you finally get the book in your hands.
ReplyDeleteIt's the norm to get proofs for a book, not so with a short story, though. BL is great in that they provide proofs for those.
Good luck with finishing them, Charlotte. You're getting closer! ;-)
I never post the proofs back to them. I email through any changes I want stating page, paragraph line etc. Nope them proofs is mine I tell yer. Nobody gets them.
ReplyDeleteEllaregina: you're absolutely right. I'd hate to have gotten the book and discovered the awful, awful thing I did. It's too awful to even go into. And I'm nearly done, now- couple of stories left to check and then in the post tomorrow. Sadly, after starting out really liking it, I now hate it. Hopefully will swing back to liking soon.
ReplyDeleteMadelynne: You're in the inner circle. You're on the alpha team. You're allowed to do that! I just have to huddle meekly in the corner and pray for daylight- though next time, I may push and see if he will let me do that. Just because I'm terrified they'll get lost in the post.
It would be so much better if BL just switched the whole process to email!