Bring on the Cucumber Slices...

Hello there. As I type, I've got tired eyes. I know this because my right eye lid keeps twitching. I've checked online and it's all fine. It could be one of several causes. I'm tired, stressed, got eye strain, had too much caffeine, or have physically exerted myself. (Re: the last point. I can confirm I have not.)

I could not agree more with
Rep. Stacey Plaskett 

It's definitely a tiredness thing. Over the past week, I was up late most nights, absorbing the twists and turns of the T***p impeachment. And then, around 1am when it had been done for the day, I went to bed and read everything I found about what I'd just watched. It was fascinating but all-consuming. That'll be the reason my eye's twitching. I'm knackered.

Well in Brigitta, with your fluttery
 fleeting. My eye is homaging you.

There's the other thing I've been doing, of course. The one that might have strained my eye to the point it flits, floats, fleetly flees and flies. (Apologies. I'm still mourning the death of Captain Von Trapp.) Over the past fortnight I've done an intense, line by line edit of the latest version of Assembling the Wingpeople. 

It's a weird thing, editing. For so long, it's about the big stuff. Does the plot make sense? Will the readers believe that character would do that, or should I add more foreshadowing earlier? Does the moving section where sad stuff happens, make people feel moved and sad? But then over time the plot, characters, and themes meld together. It can be read from beginning to end with the reader taken along with the story. It just flows. Still not glossily perfect, but the big stuff is locked in.

That's when the eye strain takes place. For hours every day, I've stared at my laptop. Not in the usual way, when I scroll, click, and glance around the room as I ponder life between bursts of typing. No, for the past couple of weeks I have properly stared. Close up, scrolling slowly, reading every sentence before rejigging, rewording, or deleting it. It's been full on.

It's amazing what a line by line edit throws up. Firstly, it should be said that to get the best out of the process, it's important to change the font. Change the font of the entire manuscript so it's like reading something new. Then, starting from the first word on page one, read it aloud.  That immediately throws up all sorts of things. Is the sentence garbled? Does it trip me up as I say it? Can the meaning be clearer? Does it have rhythm? Would an extra syllable make it land more effectively? Does it sound like something that character would say? Would she use that vocabulary? Honestly, the list of things to think about could go on forever. That's just a taster. Ultimately it's about flexing your reading ear. Does it sound right? That's all that matters. It just needs to sound right in the end.

My other big take-away from this process - apart from eye strain - is that I've noticed my tendency to omit the inverted comma from the end of a piece of dialogue when a question has been asked. It's seems I get confused by the question mark at the end of the sentence and assume it covers the speech punctuation too. I lost count of the times I spotted I'd done that. It's always useful to learn something new about yourself, so there we are. Something to watch out for in future writing endeavours.

It's still not completely finished. And that won't be the final line by line edit that gets done. Nope, not at all. There'll be a couple more before the text gets transferred to the interior template. But for now, I'll have a break from that level of intensity. For the next few weeks, I need less stressful activities for my eye. I've still got to write the blurb, formulate the acknowledgements, work out a timeline for preparing the finished book, and start thinking about the marketing strategy. But now I've typed my next steps out, the other eye has begun to twitch. Perhaps I need a few days in a darkened room, with refrigerated cucumber slices and whale music. Maybe that's what it'll take to ease my injury. If you need me I'll be having a home spa day and making sure I continue to avoid any twitch-causing physical exertion. It's what my eyes need right now.

Have a lovely week, folks.