Gold is such a pretty color
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Posted by
Christoarpher
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06 February 2011
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It?s been a while since I?ve updated this, and that?s because there I?ve been quite busy with writing, among other things. I?ve received both the first and second edits back from the publisher, as well the text galleys.
The first edits were just that, the first pass by an editor. The doc file bristled with ?track changes? balloons, most of which consisted of line edits. I?ve blogged about those. Everything was pretty easy to fix. Basically, my thinking was, ?They bought it, they want it, they?ll probably get it.? At least as far as it applied to line edits, anyway. That said, the editorial guidelines and I part was on commas before the use of the terminal ?too.? I?d look it up in the CMS, but I?m kind of lazy, and when it comes down to it, it?s not that big a deal. I?d rather save my time going after modal auxiliaries, adverbs, and other things that suck the life out of writing. More substantive questions in the first edit I gave real thought to, and as often as not defended my position and didn?t accept requested changes.
The second edits were where I made the most changes, because many of the little things had been cleared away, all the rogue commas and questions by the editor. I could actually see the text. Based on that, I realized it?s not a bad story, not bad at all.
But then came the text galleys. These aren?t a full-on galley proof, in large part because my editor compiled them in an airport, and she lacked some final information, like the ISBN for the print and electronic editions that my contract stipulates the publisher provide. I also suspect that?s why the galley lacked the dedication.
The galleys drove me crazy. I realized just how bad my writing really is. There were enough weak or wobbly knees to fill an orthopedics ward, and the use of certain words jumped out at me like the boogie-men they are. I?ll try keeping things like this in mind while writing my current work in progress (WIP).
I?m told the best way to fight insanity is with crazy, but I just keep telling myself that this is my first novel and take it for what it is. The publisher must?ve seen something she liked in it, because she bought (some of) the rights to it. No, it?s not perfect, but even a novel as short as this one is, is still a fantastically complex thing. It won?t be perfect, and striving for perfection is a losing proposition. Just learn from it and move on. I keep repeating that over and over, but I also know that once Rocking the Boat is published, I will never look at it again.
Lastly?drum roll please?I got the b&w sketches of the cover art. I?ve posted the second and finalized draft. Please note that the rights to the image belong to the cover artist, Paul Richmond. But I?m more in love with the cover art the more I see it. I can?t wait for the full-color version.
I'm more in love with this every time I look at it.
I raced in a regatta yesterday, an indoor regatta. How does one row indoors? On a Concept2 ergometer, of course. It?s quite a slick set-up. The monitors on each erg are networked together as well as to a central computer, and the result is projected onto large screens. Each erg is represented by a boat-shaped icon labeled as to competitor and pace. This way you can see who you?re beating and who?s kicking your ass. Not only that, each erg?s monitor tells you who?s ahead of you and who?s behind you and by how many meters.
Linked Concept2 monitor showing my name, finishing place, and final time and splits.
The standard distance is 2,000 meters of pure hell. This is where my coach?s training plan paid off handsomely. That said, for a variety of reasons, I wasn?t able to follow it as closely in recent weeks as I?d wanted, and gave serious consideration to bailing because I knew I wouldn?t be able to sustain the pace I?d hoped for. Or thought I wouldn?t. Think about what that last bit means?I was going to bail because I didn?t think I?d be able to win, and that?s a piss-poor reason. Yeah, I?ve got perfectionist tendencies, and if my son handed me that kind of reason, I?d explode.
I realized this at more or less the same time my coach prodded me to row and see what happens. I?m glad she did. Let?s just say that I was doing my best to fight the insanity with my text galleys by this point in time, and getting out of my head through intense exercise yesterday was the best thing I could?ve done with my time.
Going into the Golden State Indoor Rowing Championship, I had hoped just to equal my time from last year, 6:40.1. If you don?t row, that means nothing, but it?s pretty damned fast, faster than about 2/3rds of the collegiate men. I was seeded and seated next to the same guy who won last year. To give you an idea of his strength, his biceps are the size of my calves, and I?m a big guy. He?s huge. I looked at him and knew he?d win. It wasn?t defeatism, just an acknowledgment of reality.
He was supposed to be there this year?and wasn?t. Huh. Looking at the times the other competitors had turned in with their entries, suddenly my just going and trying was looking a whole lot more like winning. No pressure.
On my coach?s advice, I went out for the first half of the race at the pace I?d originally hoped for. I felt fine, which is in and of itself evidence that her training plan is a work of genius. Some people go out hard and then back off a bit, only to finish up hard. Me, I take a few strokes at the beginning to get to my pace and then I hold it, a consistent output if you will. So for the first 100-200 meters, guys were ahead of me.
The danger with going out hard is summarized by the saying, ?flying and dying,? and my goodness, some of them did. Slow and steady might win races, but fast and steady wins them by wider margins. Going into the last 500 meters, I knew I could slack off and still win. I?m pretty proud of the fact that I held my pace.
So how?d I do on a race I hadn?t trained for to the extent I felt necessary and almost bailed on? 7.4 seconds faster than last year, and a new PR. 6:32.5. Interestingly enough, it was only faster than about 2/3 of the college guys this year. The kids are getting their game on. These races are by age division, so I wasn?t competing against them directly, but still.
Gold is such a pretty color.
Me and my gold medal on the stand being congratulated by the second-place finisher.
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The first edits were just that, the first pass by an editor. The doc file bristled with ?track changes? balloons, most of which consisted of line edits. I?ve blogged about those. Everything was pretty easy to fix. Basically, my thinking was, ?They bought it, they want it, they?ll probably get it.? At least as far as it applied to line edits, anyway. That said, the editorial guidelines and I part was on commas before the use of the terminal ?too.? I?d look it up in the CMS, but I?m kind of lazy, and when it comes down to it, it?s not that big a deal. I?d rather save my time going after modal auxiliaries, adverbs, and other things that suck the life out of writing. More substantive questions in the first edit I gave real thought to, and as often as not defended my position and didn?t accept requested changes.
The second edits were where I made the most changes, because many of the little things had been cleared away, all the rogue commas and questions by the editor. I could actually see the text. Based on that, I realized it?s not a bad story, not bad at all.
But then came the text galleys. These aren?t a full-on galley proof, in large part because my editor compiled them in an airport, and she lacked some final information, like the ISBN for the print and electronic editions that my contract stipulates the publisher provide. I also suspect that?s why the galley lacked the dedication.
The galleys drove me crazy. I realized just how bad my writing really is. There were enough weak or wobbly knees to fill an orthopedics ward, and the use of certain words jumped out at me like the boogie-men they are. I?ll try keeping things like this in mind while writing my current work in progress (WIP).
I?m told the best way to fight insanity is with crazy, but I just keep telling myself that this is my first novel and take it for what it is. The publisher must?ve seen something she liked in it, because she bought (some of) the rights to it. No, it?s not perfect, but even a novel as short as this one is, is still a fantastically complex thing. It won?t be perfect, and striving for perfection is a losing proposition. Just learn from it and move on. I keep repeating that over and over, but I also know that once Rocking the Boat is published, I will never look at it again.
Lastly?drum roll please?I got the b&w sketches of the cover art. I?ve posted the second and finalized draft. Please note that the rights to the image belong to the cover artist, Paul Richmond. But I?m more in love with the cover art the more I see it. I can?t wait for the full-color version.
I'm more in love with this every time I look at it.I raced in a regatta yesterday, an indoor regatta. How does one row indoors? On a Concept2 ergometer, of course. It?s quite a slick set-up. The monitors on each erg are networked together as well as to a central computer, and the result is projected onto large screens. Each erg is represented by a boat-shaped icon labeled as to competitor and pace. This way you can see who you?re beating and who?s kicking your ass. Not only that, each erg?s monitor tells you who?s ahead of you and who?s behind you and by how many meters.
Linked Concept2 monitor showing my name, finishing place, and final time and splits.The standard distance is 2,000 meters of pure hell. This is where my coach?s training plan paid off handsomely. That said, for a variety of reasons, I wasn?t able to follow it as closely in recent weeks as I?d wanted, and gave serious consideration to bailing because I knew I wouldn?t be able to sustain the pace I?d hoped for. Or thought I wouldn?t. Think about what that last bit means?I was going to bail because I didn?t think I?d be able to win, and that?s a piss-poor reason. Yeah, I?ve got perfectionist tendencies, and if my son handed me that kind of reason, I?d explode.
I realized this at more or less the same time my coach prodded me to row and see what happens. I?m glad she did. Let?s just say that I was doing my best to fight the insanity with my text galleys by this point in time, and getting out of my head through intense exercise yesterday was the best thing I could?ve done with my time.
Going into the Golden State Indoor Rowing Championship, I had hoped just to equal my time from last year, 6:40.1. If you don?t row, that means nothing, but it?s pretty damned fast, faster than about 2/3rds of the collegiate men. I was seeded and seated next to the same guy who won last year. To give you an idea of his strength, his biceps are the size of my calves, and I?m a big guy. He?s huge. I looked at him and knew he?d win. It wasn?t defeatism, just an acknowledgment of reality.
He was supposed to be there this year?and wasn?t. Huh. Looking at the times the other competitors had turned in with their entries, suddenly my just going and trying was looking a whole lot more like winning. No pressure.
On my coach?s advice, I went out for the first half of the race at the pace I?d originally hoped for. I felt fine, which is in and of itself evidence that her training plan is a work of genius. Some people go out hard and then back off a bit, only to finish up hard. Me, I take a few strokes at the beginning to get to my pace and then I hold it, a consistent output if you will. So for the first 100-200 meters, guys were ahead of me.
The danger with going out hard is summarized by the saying, ?flying and dying,? and my goodness, some of them did. Slow and steady might win races, but fast and steady wins them by wider margins. Going into the last 500 meters, I knew I could slack off and still win. I?m pretty proud of the fact that I held my pace.
So how?d I do on a race I hadn?t trained for to the extent I felt necessary and almost bailed on? 7.4 seconds faster than last year, and a new PR. 6:32.5. Interestingly enough, it was only faster than about 2/3 of the college guys this year. The kids are getting their game on. These races are by age division, so I wasn?t competing against them directly, but still.
Gold is such a pretty color.
Me and my gold medal on the stand being congratulated by the second-place finisher.Share on Facebook
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