One more task!

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.)

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.