Editing one's own work and a book review

For quite a few years I was a bibliographic editor and technical writer/editor for a library bibliographic company. I enjoyed that job and excelled at it. I could remark two hundred pages in no time at all. I was vicious and liberal with my red pen and earned a place on the Grammar Patrol. I could quote Strunk and White and bring embarrassment to even the retired high school English teacher. I knew my grammar and let everyone else know it as well.

Yet when it comes to my own editing I truly suck. Sometimes when I am blogging I am typing so quickly (I've been clocked at over 90 wpm - note the missing c) that I don't even notice my own errors. Even reading through them a time or two I still miss many stupid little errors. I keep telling myself that I could correct this by first typing my blog into Word and then copying it to blogger. Yet, each time I sit down at the computer to add to my blog I open a compose page and start typing. It's quite embarrassing. As punishment for yesterday's hasty post (I was still quite excited having visited with RAchael Rachael) I made two errors and left them crossed through. Forgive me my grammar errors when you see them and know that I was probably too hasty and did not use Word to check for my errors.

And now on to something a bit more fun. As some of you may know I've written a book titled Knitting a Boyfriend Sweater. Some of you may even have had the chance to read the manuscript. In the book I have a magical and imaginary sweater that the main character knits. It's a lovely sweater in my mind, but I'm a bit too lazy to make it a reality. I know what it looks like in my head, though. Since writing this story, I have been fascinated with the idea of a boyfriend sweater.  For you non-knitters, there is a
mythos that if a boyfriend sweater is knit too early in a relation, or possibly at the wrong time in a relationship, or  in a premarital relationship, or even at all that the sweater will doom the couple to certain breakup. Then there is the problem of what to do with the sweater. Perhaps the guy burns it. Maybe he is nice and gives it back to the girl. In which case she may be tempted to burn it, but, oh, all the hours that went into that sweater. She might decide to donate it to charity or give it to a friend. She might wallow in it, sniffing the sleeves wailing about her broken heart, leaving salty tear stains down the front. She may even come to the conclusion that she knit it, damn it, and so she is going to wear it, even though it was knit for someone with a completely different body shape. The one conclusion that all women agree upon is that by no means does a girl regift a boyfriend sweater. There is really bad mojo in that act and it is best to give it away to a friend than doom a future relationship. Even if he would fit it and the color would bring out the lovely teal in his eyes. Don't do it. Just don't do it.

I came across a darling little book called Boyfriend Sweaters: 19 Designs for Him that You'll Want to Wear by Bruce Weinstein. You can see all his designs on his Ravelry designer's page. I love this book. I bought it immediately. The sizes are wonderful going from a 33-3/4" chest to a 60" chest measurement. So many generous sizes to choose from. The book is filled with wonderful textures, too. I am all about the textures. There are subtle diamond patterns done in knits and purls as well as more complex textures of honeycomb. Even the simple patterns have enough interest to them that you aren't going to feel like you are doing round after round of nothing but stockinette stitch, although there are a few sweaters that are composed of primarily stockinette stitch (although one is an initial sweater and another is houndstooth, so yeah, still not boring). There is a lovely Project Index page in the back of the book so you can easily find the pattern you are looking for if you can't remember it's name, but you remember what color it was. This happens to me far too often and I spend many hours thumbing through books searching for that one pattern that I remembered seeing. Aside from the fourteen sweaters, which include both cardigan and pullover styles, there are four scarf patterns and a reversible paisley stocking hat, which is called Reversible Paisley Hat, for those of you who aren't quite ready to commit to a sweater's worth of work for your boyfriend.

I think my favorite sweater in the entire book is the Seed Placket Pullover. Do not fear, those of you frightened by seed stitch. The entire sweater is not composed of seed stitch, only the collar area is seed stitch with simple seed stitch striping to give it a nice clean look.  I even like the variegated green that is used for this sweater.  I also love the Shaker Cardigan done in a nice easy-on-the-eyes brioche stitch with a flattering v-neck and simple raglan sleeves. It is ranked as an easy skill level and I believe this is accurate.

Almost all the sweaters use a medium or worsted weight yarn save for a few that us a DK weight. Several of these sweaters could be made from either a cotton or wool blend to match your area's climate. I will warn you ladies out there, this is not a true "his and hers" book. These are sweaters designed for men and for men's bodies. There is no flattering waist shaping, bust darting or short rows. These are long straight sweaters made for long straight men. If you are skilled enough to nip in the waist a bit and make it a more girly sweater then go for it, but don't be disappointed if you get to the end of this sweater and realize that you look like you are wearing a potato sack. There are a million sweater patterns out there (actually, according to Ravelry there are over 62,000 sweaters, but that's pretty close to a million) and of those million sweater patterns the majority of them are for women. So if you are looking for a flattering sweater to fit your girly curves, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a nice sweater for that special guy in your life (be it a boyfriend, fiance, husband, father, or teenaged or adult son) this is a wonderful book that will give you many options available. Just, please, for the love of all things alpaca, don't burn it when he gives it back you to. Put that sweater on, realize that he simply was not knit worthy, and move on.

Boyfriend Sweaters is published by Potter Craft, a division of Random House, and retails for $21.99. The ISBN is 9780307587121.

A bit on self-publishing

Yesterday I reviewed a book that was self-published.  I currently have on my Nook several self-published authors.  I have nothing against self-publishing and there are a few of my books that I have toyed with self-publishing.  In today's world there are some great resources for self-publishing that make it truly affordable.  Create Space is one of many print-on-demand services that has very little initial outlay of money to publish your book.  They have paid services as well such as cover and interior design options, editing (from copy editing to full-blown editorial editing) and even marketing tools. There are also several e-publishers including Barnes and Noble's new Pubit! (their exclamation point, not mine) where you can create an account, upload your book and have your book available to Nook owners around the world.

I have wishy-washy feelings about self-publishing.  On one hand self-publishing allows the average person the ability to put their toils and tribulations into a book format.  I actually have a paperback copy of my last NaNoWriMo book (courtesy of being a winner and getting a "free" ARC of my book - It wasn't truly free as I did pay for the expedited shipping.)  It's really cool to hold your own book in your hand.  To see your name printed on the title.  To flip through the pages and smell your words.  It's really really cool.  As a former librarian and current bookseller I get such a giggle out of seeing "my" ISBN  on the back. (Although if I decide to have this traditionally published I know that the number will change, but I have an ISBN!) I have pet my book, stroked its lovely cover and carried it around with me.  It's my first book baby and it makes me feel like one of the Big Kids in the writing world.

On the other hand though, even though I have done copy-editing in the past, I still find my work littered with errors.  I find grammar blunders, misused words and spelling blunders.  You know what those are.  Those are the words that are spelled correctly but aren't the ones you mean.  In one of my books I have a character whose name constantly comes up as Any rather than Andy.  Spell-check doesn't catch those worse because Any is a real word spelled correctly.  It's just not Andy's name.  It won't catch the stupid mistakes like "They're" and "Their" or "moot" and "mute" or "could have cared less" instead of the correct "couldn't have cared less." 

On the other hand (now do you see why I chose Kali for the picture today?), self-publishing can boost your self-esteem, especially if you have been toiling for years trying to get your work published.  You know it is a good story.  You know people will love it.  You are confidant that your work is solid.  You can't find someone who will take a chance on it though.  So you do it yourself.  Market it yourself.  And you love what you have created.  You have a tangible (or digital) book that belongs to you.  It is your book forever.  And people can (and probably do) read it.  You are an Author now because you have a book to prove it.  Ha! Take that publishing world!

Yet on that other hand, there is something about needing the strokes from a Real Publisher to make one feel that they have triumphed.  It's really cool to have Harper Collins or Scholastic or Random House or Penguin or Little Brown (or one of their many smaller houses) printed under your name on the spine.  How fantastic to have that little Penguin flapping its little wings on the spine.  Traditional publishers will generally help you market your book and they can get your book into a lot more hands than you can on your own.  They can send to the mass market book sellers and go to ALA and Book Week and RWA and Comicon and all those really cool book venues.  They make your book look not just like a book but like a Real Book.  It will look very polished and professional.  They will use unique photography that will get people's attention (and hopefully they won't use a similar photo the same year as a different publisher used for a CS Lewis book).

On that (what are we up to now?) fifth hand having a self-published book that does well can help you get your foot in the door to a Traditional Publisher. (We really shouldn't think of self-publishers as not being real.  They are real.  They are really publishing books, but they aren't what we have come to think of as traditional publishers.)  If you show that you have done your market, taken your licks, worked your way through the publishing world on your own and have a book that has done moderately well, that can all make an impression on an agent or editor.  I've even talked to self-published authors who have had an agent or editor contact them after reading one of their books.  That's pretty darn cool. 

Yet (and you knew there was going to be another hand in all this) there are still traditionalist Traditional Publishers who scoff and dismiss those who haven't written the prerequisite nine thousand eight hundred fifty-seven query letters and received six thousand five hundred one rejections (because the other three thousand three hundred fifty-six query letters went unanswered).  They don't care how witty or charming or influential your writing may be.  You didn't go about it the Real Way so therefore you aren't worthy of their time.  OK, so the majority of agents and publishers aren't really that bad, but there is a bit of prejudice in the publishing world against self-published authors.  Go to a writer's workshop and raise your hand when they ask if anyone is published.  When they ask you who your imprint is and you say, "Create Space" eyes will roll.  "Oh, you are one of those writers." They won't even use the word Author associated with you.  It's as if you haven't earned the title. 

Now I'm going to say the part that makes almost everyone groan.  Do your homework.  Whether you are self-publishing or writing your next query letter, do your homework.  Find out who your audience will be.  Find out more about the publisher or agent or editor.  Make sure there aren't any hidden fees or clauses.  Know everything ahead of time.  Don't go blindly blundering into your mistakes.  Take time to really know your craft no matter how you choose to publish.  Make sure your manuscript is as polished and flowing as possible.  Just because you threw up words on a page does not mean you have written a book.  A book tells a story or gives us information in a clear and concise manner.  Make sure you actually have a book before you publish it.  Even if you do it yourself.



Knitting is not for the lazy

Well, not if you want to get anything done. There are fourteen knitting days left until Christmas (in case you didn't know). And I have a total of one project done out of four. Two I have to work on covertly because people keep hanging around or want to "spend time with me" which really puts a cramp on my being able to knit without them knowing what I am making. So all of this is going on and then I find out this week that several friends have had tragedies or bad news in their lives. That equates to charity knitting. Blankets and shawls and demise caps. But you know? I don't really mind. I may have to give a few gifts to family members that are still on the needles, but I think they will understand.

There is something about knitting an item for a friend who has lost a baby or a loved one. As you knit each stitch you think about what they are going through and how their lives are impacted by tragedy and you hope that each time that they wrap themselves in this thing you have made that they will feel loved and supported. For a friend whose grandbaby died our knitting group is making demise caps and blankets for the hospital that has tended to this family. Somehow you hope that the families that have to use these items will feel some comfort knowing that someone took the time to create a hat for their baby.

So in all this I am busy plugging away. I'm editing, so there isn't a whole lot of actual writing going on and because it is December and it is actually cold outside I have been baking cookies. The house smells all warm and good and it is easy to switch batches in the oven between rows of knitting and lines of editing. But there just doesn't seem time to do much of anything else. Maybe January will be easier.

Some more words for revising

I've been finding so many more traps in my writing that I hadn't even thought of before. Let's consider them, shall we?

Probably The odd thing is that ever since I started noticing this in my own manuscripts, I've been seeing it used in published books. You know what? It isn't needed 90% (or more) of the time and 5% of the time it is used incorrectly. Consider: "He probably was mad because I left the milk on the counter again." Hmmm. I think we know he is mad, so why would he probably be mad? He is mad. He might be mad because the milk was left on the counter. But since we are presuming this is a first person sentence, then we most likely know why he is mad. So let's strip the probability out of the sentence all together. "He was mad. I had left the milk on the counter. Again." See, that's much nicer. It gets the point across and that pesky probably word is gone. When you edit through for this word, read your sentences without the probablies and see if they don't read more concise and more sure.

I think Really? You just think? Get rid of it. It's stupid and doesn't belong there. Up for editing: "I think I can put my on my own pants." It's an I statement. Don't I know if I can put my pants on or not? Strip it. "I can put on my own pants." Ah, there's a strong character and a strong statement. Where would I leave an "I think"? Here: "I think I know how to get there." It shows that the speaker is unsure of what she is doing. That's what you want to portray. Unless, of course, you know that your character really does know how to get from Space Mountain to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad without getting lost.

was _____ ing You know what was ____ ing is. It's when you write was and any ing verb when what you really meant to write was past tense. For instance: "She was already feeling lightheaded and woozy." Really? Did I really do that? Yeah, and unfortunately I did it quite a big. Come on, Lorna, just say it like it is "She already felt lightheaded and woozy." Gah! One would think you never took honors English!

That Here is another word that we tend to throw in that just doesn't belong. Strip them. Go ahead. Put on some really good stripper music and take it all off. What am I talking about: "She was thankful that he was there to lend extra support." See? It doesn't even belong there. It isn't needed. It's a filler word that I would use to earn my Word Padding Badge over at NaNoWriMo. But it doesn't belong in well-written sentences. "She was thankful he was there to lend extra support."

Well, that should keep you busy for a while. And don't forget the stripper music. It's really important (because this is all really fun and easy editing. Save the Cold Play for the serious editing!)

Pulling out the Pulls

Or maybe since I've been on such a wonderfully fruitful editing streak lately I should say, "Editing out the pulls." I finally rewrote all the feels/felts from my manuscript and tackled the coulds. That was actually quite fun. But neither of those edits was as satisfying as rewording the pulls. As I edited them I made of list of words that I used to replace pull, pulled, pulling, and pulls. Here 'tis:

withdrew (form school - this is a YA book, please!)
gathered
dragging
handle
drew
carry
turned
entered
took
leading
snapped
held
slid
lowered
twirled
shrugged
tugged
drove
rumbled
snuggled
came
led
tore
set
turned
opened
influence

Now out of context one would think that none of those words could be interchanged with the pull words, but amazingly I found a way to make it work. Some of the edits required that I rethink the entire sentence or phrase whereas others were simple substitutions. I hadn't realized until I started this major revision how much we rely on the same set of words over and over. How I can have such a limited word base when I love words and have a fantastic library of books about words is beyond me. At least I love to edit and find no great insult in someone suggesting changes to wording and phrasing.

Go do this RIGHT NOW!

Seriously, I mean it. Drop everything you are doing, close all your extraneous programs, put on your editing music and open your most recent manuscript. Now using your "find feature" in your writing software (most have them, in MS Word 2007 it can be found under the "Home" tab to the far right hand side). Type in the Find box,"feel." It is the most insanely overused word ever! Seriously. In my 80,000 word manuscript I found almost 200 instances of feel, felt, feeling. There are better ways of expressing "I felt" than using "I felt." And guess what else? In many instances you can actually delete that little word and your sentence still makes sense. Really. Try it. And if that doesn't work, how better can you write that sentence without using "I felt"?

I only left a few instances of this word in and it was in places where the phrase is so ingrained in our vernacular that it just seemed silly to try to alter it. One instance was "How are you feeling today?" We say that all the time so why not use it? But the word feelings can be said so much better with the word emotions. I am amazed at not only how many times I used that word (or variation thereof) but how well-entrenched it is in our daily speech. Another example where I used feel too often was "The room felt hot." Um, what about just "The room was hot"?

So why are you still sitting here reading this? Go. Go edit. You know you want to now.

A special thanks goes out to RebeccaJoym for her tweet yesterday. She is the author of Infinite Days and blogs here.

Oh and when you are finished with feel/felt, try could and then pulled. I'll post more as I think of them (or share some you know.)

Too many blogs

I've decided I need either A) another day that I catch up on my blogs added to my schedule or B) a better way to handle all my blogs so that I read them spread out through the week rather than on just one day. Unfortunately, not all the blogs I read are on Blogger so I can't add them to the "follow" feature and I haven't figured out how to manage the RSS feeds (and some people have websites that can't be -or I'm not tech savvy enough to figure out how to - be RSSed.) Anyone have a good tutorial? I tend to read a person's blog almost immediately if they actually tweet that they have a new posting, otherwise I wait until Thursdays and work my way through my list.

This week has been sort of odd. I finished another book and then took a break from writing to do the second edit on a different book. I always find it interesting that I will still find typographical errors in my second edits. Silly things like there instead of their or or instead of our and of course Word doesn't pick it up or find it completely nonsensical. Sent out a few more queries and received a few more no thank yous (thank you agents who are thoughtful enough to at least send a form e-mail).

In the knitting front I finally finished my Kiama shruggy-sweatery thing that I bought the yarn for at Stitches South. It is beautiful and drapey and soft and perfect as a summer sweater for here in the deep south where the temperature is 152°F (factoring in the heat index) outside and -15°F (with windchill) inside. I cast on a new shawl (Maja) out of Malabrigo. It is coming along nicely. And I joined a mystery knit-along that will also be a worsted weight shawl in the end. I'm using the yarn that I frogged from my Clapotis. The hexagon socks are still hexagonning and will eventually be finished.

I'm getting ready to try some new cookie recipes. I need to keep endeavoring on my cookie recipe idea that I've been working on. Anyone have any good ideas on what you think would be good in your perfect cookie?

OK, that is all. Back to blog reading.