En fin, le fin

[wayfaringwordhack]

At last. This draft is COMPLETE! I still want to read over my last three chapters to check for flow before I send it into hibernation, but YAY.  Finished draft. At last. :D

Do not ask me for a total word count because I don't know. And don't really want to. :P I'll work on trimming it down though during the edit, so I will most likely post "words cut" on the update filter. I pray I don't have to post a whole lot of "words added" updates, even though I do already have a whole chapter in mind that needs rewriting.

Anyhow, the plan is this:

Tonight: read last three chapters, make tweaks.
Tomorrow: Set ms aside for 2 wks, and work on another project.
April 7-25: Revise TDD

and then...My mother-in-law arrives for a visit. She'll be here from the 26 April to 15 May.  I do still hope to get this draft edited and sent to interested parties *evil grin* by May 1st, but we'll see.

In the meantime, anyone want to share their full-manuscript editing techniques?

Comments

[hkneale.livejournal.com]

My tips:

Print out whole ms (NOT in SMF, as that takes up too much paper). Sit down and read through, making your marks, your notes, your corrections with coloured pencils.

Not only do you look for grammar nits, but make notes about encluing, when characters first show up, setting stuff you may want to refer to later, and generally anything that occurs to you.

Don't forget to spill coffee or tea on it at some time. I had to make do with milo, but the effect is the same.

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

What she said. Also, don't fotget to drop the whole stack of paper on the floor (or in my case, have your baby gte into them) and then have to spend an hour putting all the pages back in order.

You may want to have a notebook to put in things like "kill X on page 23" or "X us dead! Why does he turn up on page 145??"

My problem is that I always always get bogged down in the micro details and forget all about the big picture (like, er... plot and er... structure and er... theme).

Congratulations!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips. I would dearly love to print it out. It's what I've done in the past and it works wonders for seeing mistakes. Alas, my printer isn't working. I'm afraid to know the price of paying to have it printed here knowing the mark-up on everything else. But if I don't print it out, how will I spill beverages??? Oh, the dilemma! :o)