I really should have updated this Monday, but I had other chores competing for my attention.
Monday was a chance to chill, and I took advantage of it. For the third consecutive year (to the best of my recollection), I skipped the MLK parades. We have two such parades on MLK Day in this city, led by different organizations. The "official" parade through the east side of downtown has always troubled me, as high schools and middle schools feel compelled to honor Dr. King's legacy by showing off their JROTC chapters, complete with military dress uniforms and faux rifles.
What did King say about militarism in one (or more) of his famous speeches?
Anyway: I missed it, cleaned the kitchen, prepared a bed for blackberry plants, and after a hearty lunch had a pretty groovy conversation with my editorial consultant at iUniverse.
My editorial consultant is a real person, really living in Bloomington, Indiana (home of iUniverse HQ), and not a Filipino telemarketer trying to get me to spend more money to market my books. Yes, iUniverse does that. That aside, among the many things she did tell me during our hour-long conversation were that
Monday was a chance to chill, and I took advantage of it. For the third consecutive year (to the best of my recollection), I skipped the MLK parades. We have two such parades on MLK Day in this city, led by different organizations. The "official" parade through the east side of downtown has always troubled me, as high schools and middle schools feel compelled to honor Dr. King's legacy by showing off their JROTC chapters, complete with military dress uniforms and faux rifles.
What did King say about militarism in one (or more) of his famous speeches?
Anyway: I missed it, cleaned the kitchen, prepared a bed for blackberry plants, and after a hearty lunch had a pretty groovy conversation with my editorial consultant at iUniverse.
My editorial consultant is a real person, really living in Bloomington, Indiana (home of iUniverse HQ), and not a Filipino telemarketer trying to get me to spend more money to market my books. Yes, iUniverse does that. That aside, among the many things she did tell me during our hour-long conversation were that
- my manuscript would benefit from the services of a developmental editor, and
- my manuscript deserves the services of a developmental editor.
A developmental editor is one or two steps above a regular line editor or proofreader. This is someone whose job it is to take a pretty good manuscript and helps make it great. Or just really good. Or at least more marketable. iUniverse's rate for this service, as you can see from their site, is $0.064 per page. Multiply that by 100,000 words, and you can see why I was flattered, but had to laugh it off. I'm already spending quite a bit for their services, thank you
As expected, from my reading of the Editorial Evaluation, the consultant gave me some hints as to how I might fix the manuscript's problems with point of view and the ratio of dialog to narrative. I hope to get on that very soon.
Also memorable from the conversation: She was really happy to learn that there are indeed liberals and Unitarian Universalists in Texas. "Few, but fierce," I told her. She commiserated with me for my leftish stance in this redneck environment, but I replied that I had been fortunate to find a whole community of activists and advocates for progressive causes, as well as avant garde art and music. No commiseration necessary. I don't think I would treasure that community as much if I lived in a more "liberal" state.
As expected, from my reading of the Editorial Evaluation, the consultant gave me some hints as to how I might fix the manuscript's problems with point of view and the ratio of dialog to narrative. I hope to get on that very soon.
Also memorable from the conversation: She was really happy to learn that there are indeed liberals and Unitarian Universalists in Texas. "Few, but fierce," I told her. She commiserated with me for my leftish stance in this redneck environment, but I replied that I had been fortunate to find a whole community of activists and advocates for progressive causes, as well as avant garde art and music. No commiseration necessary. I don't think I would treasure that community as much if I lived in a more "liberal" state.
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