So, My Psychic Toolbox has now been uploaded to Lulu, who have downloaded it back to me now in Pdf format. Now I have to read it through again. Which I have tendency to avoid doing. Because it is correcting errors, not writing. Therefore it is, quite frankly, boring. Now 'boring' is a word I never usually use, 'too much to do' being my preferred term generally. Not with 'reading through' it isn't.
One has to be alert all the times. Looking for escapees: little words missed out, like 'and' or 'the'. Or add-ons: like two of 'and' or two of 'the', or 's' tagged onto a word when it shouldn't be. This takes concentration. Previous read-throughs would have been more interesting. Then I would have been re-writing chunks of words which were not running smoothly, or which had been repeated elsewhere, and I would have been alert to repeating the same word too many times in a paragraph. Even the Big Read, when I have to go from start to finish in one hit which has to be my total focus for a couple of days so that I can see how the book flows through itself, is not too tedious.
But Pdf read-throughs are. Silly really, to sit on this stage in the process, but I do. I am, after all, nearly finished with the book. Yet I sit tightly in avoidance mode, wasting time.
So: Onto PC this morning. Got the Pdf file opened. Got my Word version opened. Plugged myself into my headphones, banged on some music (classical with no words, Tchaikovsky to start off with, Chopin later) and started reading the Pdf file, altering my Word copy when errors popped up. Managed 50 minutes before my brain became addled, so off for dog walk then back again, determined to not to avoid. Oh so why then am I chatting to you! Ooopss!
Ok, Ok, Ok! I'm going back to Pdf and Word!
Editing is elusive. I tend to read what I thought I wrote. Or certain word orders imply following words and that is what I see and read instead of what is there in b&w. I am frequently astonished when I read it back later.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, I am more astonished at what I have written rather than what I thought I had written, perhaps because I am a slow writer and keep fiddling about with the words until they flow as best as I can make them. But I find re-reading for typos and word errors needs much more concentration than does the actual writing.
ReplyDeletePlod on Vera. One foot in front of the other. It'll be worth it. I too am amazed at some of the things I write. Where does it coime from? In my most self connected moments it feels like there is some zone which I move in to which allows the subconscious to flow freely. I love that feeling (which isn't always there).
ReplyDeleteThanks for your encouragement, and it is nice to know that someone understands the curious 'other self' which comes to the fore and from whence comes the best of the writing. And I agree: I love that feeling too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy writing letters to friends, but my mind races along at a rate of knots and my handwriting cannot keep pace. So I mostly type my letters now. I can touchtype at a goodly speed, thanks to the training given by the RAF back in 1953. I'd given three preferences for training: Radar tech, radio tech, aircraft technician. The air ministry obviously decided that they had enough of those tradesmen and needed more typists!
ReplyDeleteHas been useful in later life, so I'm not complaining.
Strangely enough I can only tell you which keys are where on the keyboard: asdfg = left hand of centre alpha row, ;lkjh right hand.
Having that drill hammered home for hours on end to start with one never forgets those guide keys. I don't even have a vague idea where the other keys are!
I think it's something like 'muscle memory' in the fingers. It's automatic; no looking for the right key(s) - the mind and fingers just work on auto-pilot. Very handy, and I type faster than I can hand-write.
The other benefit of typing letters to friends is that one can include graphics, photographs and stuff like that, breaking up the text. I know that a handwritten letter seems more personal and sometimes I will buy a nice and colourful card and write in that. These will be shorter messages than my typewritten stuff, which tends to be at least four A4 pages long.
I'll stop now ... my fingers tend to run amok if I witter on too long.
God bless the urge to take a typing course years ago,Philip, because that gave me freedom from having to concentrate on writing down words by hand. As you say, an automatic pilot seems to come into action when my fingers are hovering over the keyboard, and once the words come into my head, they can be translated at the speed of those thoughts by tapping on the keyboard.
ReplyDeleteNeed a new PC. Will have to keep my old keyboard though. French PC's have a different keyboard. Tried to use one the other day and made a hopeless hash of words on the screen!
Not good at writing to people, though. Have to be in the right frame of mind, and if the words are flowing then it is best they flow with the books rather than being chatty letter-type emails. Good that you spend time with your letter writing. It probably keeps you in touch with your creative writing at the moment.