Tuesday, July 08, 2008

The Proof Is in the Pudding (Or Something Like That)

Ok, so I've been making my way through the proofs. There really isn't much, and I'm going along at a steady pace. There are a few things I need to double-check, which will have to wait until either later or tomorrow morning. I still haven't decided whether I can reasonably get out of here tomorrow, but I have high hopes. I can, whatever the case, get the proofs mailed back tomorrow. This gives me a greater sense of calm. I still need to do laundry (why I didn't do it today as I've been sitting here I'm not sure), to empty the fridge, to pack and to load the car. Yeah, I kind of think that I might not be going to Hometown until Thursday. Yes, I think this is the most reasonable course of action, and I shall just decide that this is true right now. That way I can get everything packed up and ready to go tomorrow, and then just head out first thing Thursday morning. Yes, this is the plan.

Ok, this means that I've got to call my mom now and inform her of this turn of events.

...

Ah. The Mother of Crazy is actually pleased with the delay, as she would like more time to ready herself for me and the kitties and because apparently the weather shall be nicer on Thursday. See? Procrastination ultimately makes everything work out much more nicely :)

Edited to Add: So, I think I'm through with the proofs for this evening. I've got a solid 5 or 6 hours of work on them ahead of me tomorrow (double-checking some quotations and citations, dotting i's and crossing t's and whatnot), but I've been through the editors' marks carefully, and the bulk of the work is done, and all in all I'm happy with the edits that were suggested, 99% of them being totally cosmetic things like typos, punctuation of citations, etc. See, I need an editor for these things because I do not have the patience to be meticulous about them on my own. This is where it's nice publishing one's work, as you get minions to look at those things for you. (This is not to say that I intentionally turn in sloppy manuscripts, but rather to note that this is a weakness of mine that really requires professional assistance at the late stages.) But so yes. I do believe I shall let the proofs lie until the morning, and this evening I shall relax and commence with some of my packing. Indeed.

2 comments:

Susan said...

I'm completely with you on not having the patience for checking citation style myself. I may *think* I'm being consistent, but really? No.

We all need to bow before good copyeditors. They have the hard job.

Karet said...

You may want to be sure that you go over the whole thing carefully, anyway -- when I got proofs back for an essay collection I co-edited last year, the printer had introduced at least 2-5 typos into EACH essay. It was so annoying. I thought we had caught them all but I just found one on the contributor's page (in the printed book). I hope your publisher / editor / printer is better than mine!