Sometimes it's good to let the muse out of your head for a bit, I guess. Despite my desire to finish my novella this weekend, I ended up investing the time far more wisely in some good family time together.
The day went sort of like this. First, I got up and sat over the computer and drank coffee for an hour (my typical morning exercise). Then we went to the optometrist for Jessa's eye appointment. Then, script in hand, I took Heide to a late lunch at our favorite BBQ place. That done, we drove across the street to the movie theater and watched The Help. A trip to the grocery store came next, during which I bought the stuff to make a nice fish dinner. After taking all the bags home, I cooked, all the while wishing that I had been the one to write the book the movie we'd just watched was based on--never mind the fact that it was rejected sixty times. Now, dinner well eaten, I sit thinking of an early bedtime.
I did receive the copy I'd ordered of Editors on Editing today. It's a good book; I read a chunk of it while Jessa was in getting her eyes dilated and then measured. It contains a series of short essays on all sorts of editorial topics, and reading it gives a great insight on what the guys on "that side of the desk" are looking for. Yes, it's nearly twenty years old, as one of Amazon's reviewers pointed out. Certainly, many aspects of the publishing industry have changed. I'd like to think, though, that many of the basics are still there. For instance, an agent or editor still has to be hooked by your query letter for you to stand a chance of being called. The book goes over that, and also touches on the techniques and theory used by editors, what editors are looking for when you come face to face with them at workshops, the differences between editing SF and Romance and the other genres, etc. I haven't read it entirely yet, but I intend to.
Overall, then, a very useful day, despite not having written a single word of prose. Except, of course, this.
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