Into Uber Gear

Yes, life is back to normal for the roofer-author. Today, I cussed out loud without fear of corrupting children's ears. Today, I insulted grown men without thought of yuppie time-out-to-discuss sensitivities. Today, I have dirt under my fingernails without thinking of washing my hands ten times a day so I can play with and not infect the baby. I am freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I keep forgetting that it's so hard to be on my best behavior all the time. At least, when I'm at a convention with friends, I can let my hair down after workshops and signings and go and sit at a bar to chill. It's not so easy to do that with one teen, three pre-teens, and several other tiny little chillun. I swear, I'm still dreaming Final Fantasy characters. For those not in the know, that's a game, but you would think it's the meaning of all life to complete the quest of the beautiful Yuna and her five Guardians against the evil Machina.

Roll-playing is interesting because I'm writing about virtual reality, but twenty-three hours of that in a twenty-four hour day is a bit much, I think. Tell that to the bunch of pre-teens intensely pushing those magic buttons. The television becomes a time-dimensional warp and it's a bit like Las Vegas during the old days when you could hear the constant ding-ding-ding of the machines; the game background music while the characters fight the monsters eat your mind and your brain slowly until you wake up dreaming about that tune.

Interesting game, but the silence of my house was never more missed! Lovely Yuna must find a way to save her people and be with her true love (yes, there are even romantic elements to snare unsuspecting romance readers into watching/reading the plot and dialogue!) without Gennita Low.

So back to hell (work) and back to Hell (writing). I'm literal, if nothing else ;-P. MIRA sent me ONE (ONE!) cover flat of Virtually His to admire. I love it. It's a beautiful cover but my old publisher used to send me one THOUSAND. I hope they will send me just a few more (okay, a few HUNDRED would be nice) because my publicist needs them to send out to reader groups and booksellers. ONE! Sigh.



No, that's not ON the book cover ;-). But I felt like some eye candy.

I also received an email that my copy edits was sent out last week. I haven't seen any big envelope on my doorstep and my emails to my editors received replies that they were vacationing till early Dec. Help! Who do I talk to about missing copy edits? I hope I get the package tomorrow.

Copy edits is the third stage of rereading a manuscript. It's been marked by both editor and copy editor, and now it's tossed back to me for approval. I get to see what's changed or questioned and if the writer gets a great copy editor, then all illogical stuff that was missed before would be caught at this stage. After I send it back, it'll be finalized into a format called the galley. It looks exactly like a photo copy of each page of the printed book. This final pass is the last chance to correct spelling and errors, but the author is only allowed about fifty changes (a comma is one change). Anything beyond that costs the author $$$. So that's why the copy-edit stage is very, very important.

So from fantasy, I bring you the business part ;-). How's that for a balanced blog, huh?

I don't have time to scan the beautiful calendar my sister gave me. Its front says MEN ARE LIKE...Weather reports...You really shouldn't believe a word they say. Hmmm. Okay. Ummm. Not that I'm listening when each month has such preeeeeeetty faces, heh heh heh.

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