I’m getting more and more excited about the next Fat Cat
book. My editor at Berkley Prime Crime has told me to expect her editor’s notes
either this week or next.
(The timing is perfect because my alter-ego, Kaye George, is
doing her last few edits on the second People of the Wind mystery before
turning it over to a few readers. I’m very glad that will be done and out of
the way.)
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| my desk, mid-project |
As far as items on the checklist, this one is near the end
for me, even though the book won’t be published until April. In fact, this is
the next to the last, the penultimate job. After I address any story line
concerns that the editor might have (let’s hope there aren’t many! aren’t any?),
which will take a few days or a few weeks, I’ll turn my changes in to her.
The last task for me, my last chance to get everything in
shape, is copy editing, which come to me from the copy editor, appropriately
enough. This consists of typo corrections, instances where one word is used too
often or too close to the last use, or punctuation errors. I try to do my most
meticulous job with these. I know that nothing is perfect, especially a
published book, and mistakes almost always slip through, but quite a few people
will have made every effort to prevent this!
By the way, if you as a reader DO see mistakes, I’m always
open to receiving them. If more printings are done, and the editors agree that
there’s an error, it can be corrected.
