~ ONE JOURNEY ~

~ There is only one journey: going inside yourself. ~
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Exhausted and defeated ~ Monday, January 29, 2007

I'll get my book done before we go (I'm truly really in the final stretch) but I won't be sending it out. As I said to Tom, I think it would be far less professional to send out a mss with multiple, sloppy or oversight mistakes rather than to send one a couple of weeks later. I'll take a print copy with me to mark up, and if I have computer access in Houston and on the ship (only if it's free, of course--I know they charge for internet, but I don't know if they'd charge just to use the computer workstation sans web connection), I'll put the changes in there if I get time, so I'll have something ready to ship out when I get back.

Otherwise, it will be maybe a day or so after I get back to put in all the fixes--no biggie. As time before departure shortened and I still had to finish the rewrite, I became more and more aware that it would be stupid, after spending all this time fixing it up, to send out what would essentially be an unproofed or partially proofed mss. So, I'll do my usual fine tooth comb read through (and of course, things will still be missed, but far fewer that if I hadn't done that).

I feel better about this decision, ultimately. I'm annoyed that I wasn't able to get it done within my timelines (gonna have to work on that when I get back), but I'd feel silly sending this out without having been properly proofed.

Saw another silly movie (I saw it because it was silly--I wanted a break with something fluffy and mindless): BloodRayne, starring Kristanna Loken (of Terminator 3 fame). It was wafer-thin, it seemed, in worldbuilding, characterization etc. But I really did just want an action, kung-fu, straightforward, escapist film and this fit the bill. I was never deeply engaged, but then never expected to be.

In other news, I'm exhausted. I'm not sure if it's all this pressure I've put on myself with this book (it's a long one--in page-count derived word count, it's over 100K at this point. But I still don't know which kind of count they want. It ultimately seems meaningless to me. Also, I may end up cutting other stuff in my revision.) or if it's the various antibiotics and the like that I'm on combined with a long car ride with sub-optimal back support yesterday. My back was really bad last night and it seems to have transferred to my neck this morning. I can barely turn it.

Maybe it will get better as the day progresses. Now, I'm going to scare up some breakfast and coffee while I think about the final scenes I'm going to write. Mentally prepare, and all that... :-)
::Posted by Anduril Elessar @ 9:53 AM::::
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