Disabled

CEM is mailed off back to the copy-editing director.

What have I learned lately? That I’ve gotten more concise, but I still find random words and occasionally entire sentences that just don’t need to be there. That I’ve gotten better at the “that/which” distinction, though I still screw it up occasionally. That since I haven’t the faintest clue about the “further/farther” distinction, I’ve apparently decided to use “further” for everything. (And that 99% of the time, that’s the wrong choice.)

The slog took a while in part because I read the entire. book. out loud to myself. (In a whisper, to save my voice.) It’s amazing how much more you catch, doing it that way. It’s also amazing how much longer it takes. And I find myself questioning whether it’s really worth the effort, whether changing that one word or removing that repetition or eliminating “that” or “had” from a sentence really makes any difference at all.

This falls into the category of “If you start asking those questions, you’d better find another job.”

Now I get a month or so before the page proofs land on my doorstep. And, for those who were wondering (by which I mean my brother), no, the ARC typesetting isn’t final. They’re changing the font on the title page and the epigraphs, and the Tiresias sections will probably be italicized. Which are all changes I’m glad to see.

0 Responses to “”

  1. unforth

    The reading aloud method sounds neat and makes a lot of sense. Congrats on finishing the copy edit!

  2. markdf

    I read aloud too! Definitely catches stuff.

    Is it worth it? Personally, yes, because if I see something and don’t change it, and then I see it in the book, I always think “damn, I shoulda changed that.”

  3. clodfobble

    In case you’re curious (or maybe want to slowly put your copyeditor out of a job… :))

    FARTHER denotes physical advancement in distance.
    FURTHER denotes advancement to greater degree, as in time.

    It is farther down the road. (For distance physically traveled.)

    You read further in the book. (To a greater degree than where you are now.)

    You further your education. (To a greater degree than what you have now.)

    So technically “further” applies to a lot more situations, but “farther” is more commonly correct because people like to talk about traveling. 🙂

  4. snickelish

    A non-post-related comment: Your website is full of serendipitous information. I’ve been getting interested in Norse mythology, so at the library I skimmed the various editions of the poetic eddas, worrying about which translation I wanted, and finally brought one home. And then I happened to wander through your recommendations, and voila! There was an article on the eddas, complete with a brief discussion of translations. (I had picked up the Hollander, which I think was a good choice now that I’ve read your summary).

    And you also have a review of “The Secrets of Jin-Shei,” which I happened to read recently (although I didn’t like it as well as you did). And I don’t think I had read your review of “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell” the first time through, but I have now and completely agree with you.

    So, just in case you wondered, you do have an audience. 🙂

    • Marie Brennan

      Thanks for letting me know! It’s easy to feel I’m chucking those things out into the void, so yay for knowing they’ve been useful to someone.

      I’m (obviously) way behind this year, and I think I’ll have to take a hiatus next year, since keeping up with it has gotten rather difficult. But the past recs will stay there, and maybe in 2009 I’ll pick it up again.

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