Gena Showlater’s recent post really struck a chord for me, though I dont’ have anywhere near her level of work. Poor girl is finishing one manuscript and revising three others, and let’s not forget her publicity and, gosh, family.
I don’t have family, just Sailor Boy, but between the job and the revisions, I still feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day.
So a month ago, I got an ELEVEN PAGE REVISION LETTER from my grumblegrumble lovely editor (nah, really, love ya, Ker). It kicked my ass for a while, and then I fought back and made (most of) the changes and kicked its ass right back and added 5000 words to my manuscript and sent it back. Last weekend, I got it back and have since set about fixing the things that weren’t fixed in the first round. After that, it’s all about the copyediting. And then the proofing. And then the publicity.
Kerri says she’s read the book 10 times already. And we’re still catching stuff. For instance, last night I noticed I accidentally gave two minor characters the same last name. Oops. (Okay, I had a moment where I wondered if they were secretly brother and sister. Like, maybe it could be a thing. An apocryphal fanfic-inspiring thing.
Totally off-topic, but that whole same-last-name thing last night inspired a whole train of thought wherein I wondered how good a job Obi-Wan Kenobi et al. was doing with “hiding” Luke when they went ahead and called him LUKE SKYWALKER. Dude, is Skywalker the “Smith” of long ago in a galaxy far, far away? Is it so common that nobody would have noticed that there was some snot-nosed kid running around Tatooine with the same last name as the Crown Prince of the frickin’ galaxy? At least with Leia, they pretended she was that Organa guy’s kid. Which of course, merely forwards my theory that Leia is really the powerful one of those two. And anyway, yeah, Luke was totally right with the whole “Ben should have told me,” thing. Because, dude, knowledge is power, and at least he should know why the big scary guy in black is stalking him all over the galaxy. And how is it that not everyone knows where this individual came from? How is it that Han Solo isn’t all, “Skywalker, huh? Huh, isn’t that the birth name of that freaky Darth Vader dude? I think I learned that in early Imperial History class in GRADE SCHOOL.” At the very least, little Miss leader-of-the-rebellion Leia should have known it. Right after he says, “I’m Luke Skywalker and I’m here to save you,” she should have said, “Wait, that’s Darth Vader’s name. He just tortured me and blew up my planet. You think I’m going anywhere with you?” Ahem. Sorry, geek tangent. So many ways the later movies ruined the earlier ones.
And if the revisions work isn’t enough, I have to visit the random house page at least five times a dat to type in my name. I also have to spend an hour staring at my cover and envisioning what it will look like wrapped around a book. (Oh, yeah. Got my cover. Will be posting it soon. Tease tease tease.) And then there the whole work, commute, sleep, eat, watch LOST thing. That takes up some time.
So it’s little wonder that I haven’t been able to work on any new proposals. And I have three that I’m just DYING to get into. Three. Yeah, I think my muse has a sadistic streak. Plus there’s that whole sequel thing due next summer. And let’s not forget my promotional plan.
Sigh. Not enough hours in the day. Especially when I spend some of it thinking about plot holes in Star Wars.
October 21st, 2005 at 10:17 am
There’s no such thing as too much thinking about good Star Wars. Well. Maybe if you remodeled your house to look like the inside of the Millenium Falcon it’d be too much. But only if you were supposed to be doing something else at the time.
You’re right though, I’ve never gotten that. The only thing I’ve been able to come up with is that maybe Darth Vader never told anyone else that he had been Anikan Skywalker before. Since everybody thought the jedi had been wiped out, maybe Ben was the only one who knew?
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October 21st, 2005 at 10:32 am
Cover?? YOU got your cover and aren’t posting it for the world!!? You are a tease. I may not forgive you for that.
Can’t wait to see it, seriously, though!
Hugs,
Shannon
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October 21st, 2005 at 8:29 pm
I’ll echo Shannon about the cover!
And about Star Wars, well, didn’t The Emperor tell Anakin/Darth Padme had died, that Anakin had killed her? Maybe building the Death Star really took over his life after he believed he’d killed his wife and child. Now I want to watch Star Wars!
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October 21st, 2005 at 10:34 pm
First time here (aspiring writer here), it’s great to read about a writer’s life & the business. I feel very much like you with the “not enough hours in the day” statement. Frequently, I find myself saying that because of my 15 hour course load @ college, my volunteer work, my job, my family, etc etc.
I am excited to read more about your work.
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October 22nd, 2005 at 8:38 am
I believe that Darth never told anyone or even thought of it much himself. What I don’t believe is that no news org in the galaxy picked up on the fact. I guess what happened was that with “all the jedi dead” people just assumed that Anakin died too, and it never really got out that the Chancellor-turned-Emperor was a Sith master.
However, what was NOT a secret was that Darth Vader was a dark Jedi, because in the very first Star Wars movie, the evil empire people in gray are sitting aroud the table talking about his stupid ancient religion that no one believes in anymore. (And then he chokes them).
Ah well. Yeah, um, the cover. Well, I’ll have a postable version of that soon! ::vbg::
Welcome Elsie! Man, I understand why you don’t have time to write! I hardly wrote anything in college. One thing at a time, I think. But my book is set in college so maybe you’ll enjoy that! Good luck with all your work!
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October 22nd, 2005 at 9:28 am
The only cool thing about Star Wars was Han Solo. I think that was the whole purpose of that series. And giving Harrison Ford his totally awesome career.
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October 22nd, 2005 at 9:51 am
It’s just mean to tease us about the cover then not show it…show it!!
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October 22nd, 2005 at 4:34 pm
I discovered I only need to start. Once I get going, I usually do a lot. But to actually start… that’s the hardest task
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October 22nd, 2005 at 7:28 pm
I don’t think anyone besides the Emperor, Yoda and Obi Wan knew that Anakin became Darth — Anakin killed the remaining Jedi who knew him, except for Yoda and Obi Wan, and Padme died. Luke’s uncle may have known the truth, but it’s more likely he actually believed that his half-brother Anakin had died in the Clone Wars with the other Jedi, slain by the Emperor and Darth Vader. And under the Emperor’s reign, I doubt there were lots of free-thinking journalists running around. As far as I’m concerned, there are no plot holes in Star Wars — it’s as near perfection as a six-part cinematic saga could ever be.
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October 23rd, 2005 at 12:53 pm
My sons called him ‘Sky Lukewalker’ for ages (OK, they were only 5)
Now they say ‘Lose the Farm, Luke!’
Don’t ask me why.
Kids are so wierd.
As for edits, I hate missing things. One time it was ‘The Golf of Mexico’ that escaped my editor’s keen eyes. Luckily the proofreader caught that one.
Whew.
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October 23rd, 2005 at 5:09 pm
Not enough hours in the day, I feel you. It gets even worse once a munchkin appears on the scene. I long for the days when I thought I was busy being a single girl working three jobs in New York City, lol. Now I have a 17 month old who refuses to let mama type for more than ten minutes at a time unless the ‘Teletubbies’ are on. Ahh, the ‘Teletubbies’, I never thought I’d say it, but god I love them.
Good luck with stretching your day! (Stacey, lurker, sometimes poster
)
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