e_moon60 (e_moon60) wrote,
e_moon60
e_moon60

  • Mood:

Nose to the Grindstone: Why a printed draft?

Or, why the paperless society isn't. 

I started printing out the monster today in 50 page increments because I find it much easier to do cuts that way.   And much easier to spot accidental duplications, like two Chapter Thirteens. 

Voila!  It's 5000+ words shorter.   Easiest kind of cut to make, especially when the printer ran out of paper only a few pages into the duplicated chapter.   But despite having designed a workflow that was supposed to prevent putting the same chapter in twice, it happened three times--two times that I caught in the computer, and this time that I didn't.   (If I were able to get Word to let me hook files with different headers together, and then paginate the whole, easily, I'd have seen that the chapter headers were the same...but it's uncooperative about that, so I leave chapter numbers off the header when I link chapters.)

That cut doesn't exactly count, however, as no one would print the book with two Chapter Thirteens.  I hope.  So though it's down to a mere 230,000 words, there's a long, long trail a-winding to a more reasonable length.



Tags: the writing life
Subscribe

  • Why the Gaps?

    So it's been, um, a month and a day since a post. What kind of way is that to do social media, someone will ask. LifeStuff. Pressure of work and…

  • "Coffee with the Author" podcast from April 16

    Here's the link to the interview with Jennifer Stayton of KUT...we had fun. I wish I hadn't started with a frog in my throat, but at least it…

  • A Week of Pages

    All last week and until an hour or so ago, I was working on page proofs. Page proofs, for the non-writers here, are what you get after the…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
  • 9 comments