Editing finished (12/8/08)
Well that’s it. Everything Simon has asked for, I have done (I think). I’ve been over all the changes and back again and TAP is better for it. And probably better for the changed ending (which is certainly going to make writing King of the Crags a bit easier).
All I have to do is press the send button and it’s done. I imagine this is what it will feel like when the first of my children finally leaves home. It’s a mixture of being really pleased and proud to see it go, and being desperately apprehensive that it’s going to get the shit kicked out of it and some running home again in floods of tears. It’s true that there’s still copy-editing and proof-editing to go, but this the point at which I feel like I’m saying: ‘This is it. This is the best I can do.’ Which I suppose I am. Eeep.
Next to all that, junking the c. 70000 words of King of the Crags I’d already done and starting all over again seems like trivia.
Fare well, little manuscript…
September 4th, 2008 at 2: 30 pm
Stephen–from one John/Simon writer to another–late but hearty congratulations! Reaching that point (”everything Simon has asked for”) remains a distant dream for me with Book II in my series. But for what it’s worth, when I met Simon for the first time in (New York, June) he spoke of your books with a happy & dangerous gleam in his eye.
All Best,
Robert VS Redick
P.S. Delight in the privilege of needing only to press a SEND button. An account of my first-draft miseries can be found here:
http://robertvsredick.blogspot.com/2008/08/hyperbole-has-long-and-splendid.html
September 4th, 2008 at 6: 58 pm
*Swoon*