copy editors work hard

Behold, my manuscript in its supreme thickness:

Does it not scare you?  It totally scares me. I can't stand details.  If I were a copy editor, I would shoot myself.  St. Martin's recently fed-exed me the copy edited version of my manuscript for review, and I found it immensely painful to check over the grammar, spelling and facts once again.  Even though I wrote it, even though it is all about ME.  Thus, I've gained a new respect for the kind- and sheer amount- of work that copy editors do.  So どもありがとうございます, wherever you are.

I did the vast majority of proofreading yesterday, sitting on the Yamanote train line that circles around the city of Tokyo.  I had a three hour break between appointments during the day, so my monster of a manuscript and I managed to make the loop three times.  There is something about being on a moving train that is conducive to my getting work done, though I couldn't tell you what it is.

Because you can stay on this train without really going anywhere, the Yamanote is useful for many ends aside from simple commuting (presuming that it is not rush hour, when just getting into the train is an adventure in itself).  For example, there is an informal Halloween party every year.  It is an open-invitation festival in which one designated car on a specific train becomes filled with party-goers in costume.  The public consumption of alcohol not prohibited anywhere in this city, so the party is BYOB.  Last December, I made a valiant effort to throw my 26th birthday party on the Yamanote line.  My birthday falls between Christmas and New Year's however, a time when most people are busy or go traveling, so I couldn't manage to gather enough people to effectively turn one train car into a party.  We went to karaoke instead, which was just as well.

Anyways, back to my editing binge.

I talk to myself a lot.  This is especially the case as I am reviewing my manuscript on the Yamanote.  It results in various involuntary expletives such as "Oh god, I can't believe I wrote about that night!" or "I'm such a drunken whore!" or the ever popular "somebody just kill me and get this over with!"   My mumbling is basically psychotic, because I feel like I can't possibly mean what I'm saying.  But by the time I realize what I've said, it's already out there, and a group of school children sitting in the seats across from me are silently affirming their suspicion that all foreigners are CRAZY.

But they will all get off at the next stop.  That is the other great thing about the Yamanote.

Comments

[postpaleo]

I don't know why I can't get e-mail links to work from web sites. Won't even let me use my hotmail account, which I don't look at anyway. So, as I know you'll get an email stating this comment, I decided to bury it, this request. I would really like to link your site from mine. My site is not recovery oriented, hell, I don't know what it's goal, if any, is. Being as it is not recovery oriented, I would fully understand a decline for a link. My link on mine is probably the same way, so if you don't care to reply here, it's [email protected] . Thanks for your consideration.

"I talk to myself a lot." "My mumbling is basically psychotic"

Not on the site I hang out it isn't. It's very common. Knowing other languages is a common trait as well. There may be a group from the web site meeting on mine, at least for a little. Do stop by, don't be shy, that's a common trait as well, but we got over it when we found each other. More then a few of us have been the 12 stepper programs and they didn't work to well for us. There was a reason. I am not implying you're on the spectrum, I hardly have gotten to meet you. What I am saying is, weird doesn't bother me, strange sometimes is very normal to me. I just plain don't shock very easily. Nor does it, the gang. What does shock us, is normal to most.

Sinsboldly (Merle) has a trick she uses when in public and has the need to talk to herself, she carries a cell phone. It isn't on, but no one else knows that.

[Lea]

anyone can link my site if they want. thanks!

[Melanie]

Just going through some of your older posts...
congratulations on the manuscript! I know how hard it is to get it to that stage... mine is about half way there.

I also write much better on a train, good idea doing the loop thing, I'd never thought of that.