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much madness is divinest sense to a discerning eye
the day so far 
About the Author
Diana Pharaoh Francis
High Fantasy Adventure
Quote of the Nonce
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Fail again. Fail better.
~Samuel Beckett

Probably, indeed, the larger part of the labor of an author composing his work is critical labor; the labor of sifting, combining, constructing, expunging, correcting, testing. This frightful toil is as much critical as creative.
~T.S. Eliot

The real secret of magic is that the world is made of words, and that if you know the words that the world is made of you can make of it whatever you wish. ~Terence McKenna

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.
~Anne McCaffrey

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.
~Robert Cormier

If you don't feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn't very vital. If you don't feel like you are writing somewhat over your head, why do it? If you don't have some doubt of your authority to tell this story, then you are not trying to tell enough.
~ John Irving

Sometimes making stuff up feels a lot like Coyote* running across the empty space between one rocky pinnacle and the next, and as long as you keep moving you're fine. When you stop and look down, it's suddenly all too apparent that there's absolutely nothing underneath and that you're keeping in the air by a peculiar effort of will.

And then a good day comes, and you start running through the air once again, and, if you're smart, you resolutely don't look down. ~Neil Gaiman
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2nd-Jun-2007 04:24 pm
What is about deadlines and important events that make you get sick?  Missed Miscon for Chickenpox.  I mean really.  The end of the school year and my son brings them home now?  Couldn't wait a week or two?  Seriously?  And now as my deadline dangles two weeks away, I've got something else.  I feel like CRAAAAAAP!  Queasy.  Headachey.  But here's the worst part.  Running a low temp.  Have been for awhile now.  Between about 96 and 97.5.  What the freak is that about?  I feel super cold, then super hot, and back and forth like a pinball. 

Got up at 9:30, ate something, promptly felt worse, went back to bed until 2:00, and have been up for 2.5 hours now.  Ate some yogurt and then a little bread and my stomach is considering whether the two should be allowed to stay in the pool or get booted.  I'm hoping for staying, but only because puking is so disgusting and should at least be preceded by drink and fun and plenty of both.

In the meantime, I've started in on my proofs.  So far they are looking good.  I'm adding a couple of lines to the acknowledgements page--to the effect of come to the website for maps because duh, they aren't in the book.  And I think people will want them. 

Proofs, by the way, are essentially the typeset pages.  Making changes can be very bad.  If you take out a word, it seriously dominoes.  Adding words is worse.  The idea is that you should take out as many as you put in.  Luckily, on the acknowledgements page, there is room for additions without creating havoc, so I'm hoping it will not be a problem. 

The rest of the job is to check for typos and other problems.  I found one place I needed to change on account of a WTF?  I mean, everywhere but here in the book I say something completely different.  I should make this coherent with all the rest of the info. 

And now back to work.  Still haven't seen PotC3.  I already know in advance that my local theater cuts of the credits before the end.  So I'll already be pissed about that.  But I really am looking forward to it.  Now to get healthy, get a babysitter, and oh, yeah, get words onto the paper so I'm not completely distracted by guilt.

What are you doing this weekend?

Di
hawkeye
Comments 
3rd-Jun-2007 12:24 am (UTC)
This weekend, I am camped out in Daytona FL -- grading exams at the AP Comparative Politics Reading. Daytona = +, grading = -. The process will continue for 7 days. Crazy. Good pay, nice time, fun people, though, so ....
[info]drenilop
3rd-Jun-2007 10:44 pm (UTC)
Ah yes. My friend is supposed to be the English exams soon. Or already. I'm not sure. Better you than me at this point. But at least the pay is good, the company fun, and there is ocean . . .

Di
[info]difrancis
3rd-Jun-2007 03:53 am (UTC)
What are you doing this weekend?


BEA. Save me....
[info]suricattus
3rd-Jun-2007 10:45 pm (UTC)
If I were there, you'd have to save me. I've never been though. I'd like to. Next year it's in LA. Wonder if I have the wherewithall . . . But I'd have to bring a truck to pack books back. Does Roc do a booth there at all? Part of a booth? Otherwise make an appearance?

Di
[info]difrancis
3rd-Jun-2007 11:17 pm (UTC)
Penguin always has a large booth, but it tends to be given over the more mainstream imprints or NYT bestsellers. I didn't see either Ace or Roc being pushed (Laurell was, but she's Berkley now, isn't she?). The only SF/F imprints I saw with a noticable presence were Tor and Pyr (and Luna, natch), although I'm told that Orbit was having a booth 'do on Saturday.

It's a trade show, so it's mostly sales and marketing folk pushing their flavor of the season, and the rest of us are eeking out what we can from the crumbs....
[info]suricattus
3rd-Jun-2007 03:42 pm (UTC)
The final scene after the credits still haunts me three days later. I had to work out an after the after scenerio in my head to sleep at night.

Saw POTC3 on Thursday, watched the DVD of 1 on Friday and 2 on Saturday. I have got to go back and see 3 again and I will definately buy the DVD when released.

Call me a hopeless romantic fool but I loved those films.
[info]ramblin_phyl
3rd-Jun-2007 10:46 pm (UTC)
Me too. Getting III on DVD. I need to watch the other two again. But more importantly, I need to see III!!!!!

Sigh.

Di (also a sap)
[info]difrancis
3rd-Jun-2007 07:02 pm (UTC)
Busy busy busy. This weekend I'm finishing my norsk bunaden presentation for my Norwegian final, starting the bead work for my Terra costume, making sure all my papers are in order for my translation final, finishing addressing my graduation announcements, and laundry. I doubt I'll get everything done. ^^;;
[info]angikate
3rd-Jun-2007 10:47 pm (UTC)
oooooh! Pretty costume! I want to see a pic of it when it's complete. Hey, there's still hours and hours left before Monday (Okay, maybe a handful, depending on when you want to start counting Monday as actually beginning). Lotsa time. Sure. Yep. Uhuh.

Di
[info]difrancis
4th-Jun-2007 02:27 pm (UTC)
I'm very sorry to hear you're sick. It ain't easy bein' queasy. Ba dum bum bum.

How did the ribs wind up? I just ate breakfast, but when I read that, my stomach started to shout, "MINE!" My esoophagus and upper intesting teamed up and got him settled down for the moment. But the rub sounded excellent.

I'm also glad you mentioned a little bit about proofs. This is gonna seem kinda dumb, but what do you mean by things domino-ing? Hey, if it isn't a word, it should be. Is that specific to the proofs itself, as in a problem with messing up the word count or page formatting?
[info]clowe
5th-Jun-2007 08:04 am (UTC)
Ribs. Well, not as well as hoped. The main problem was that the ribs covered the bbq so that the temp gauge wasn't accurate. We ended up with some burnt stuff. What was good was good though. WE will now try it again, differently. We haves Ideas, we's does.

Proof pages are typeset. So if you add words, you screw up all the pages after that. Or you can. If you take stuff out, same thing. Formatting can get blown, and so on. They ask that you put in the same amount of spaces your take out. So if you take out twenty four letters, replace them! I don't, mostly, but I try not to make serious changes. I've found a few spots where words have to be switched out for sense. I've found places where I think--ick, coulda written that better. And then I leave it if it isn't egregious. These are really clean proofs, which is a first for my books. My editor added a couple of steps to the process to help make things less difficult for the typesetters (less confusing) and I think it really made a difference.

Di
[info]difrancis
5th-Jun-2007 02:12 pm (UTC)
Cool. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
[info]clowe
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