I have reached peace with my edit letter. I have read it four times, and I finally see how little work there actually is in it. It seems like a lot? But the concepts are broad, and the bits that need to be tweaked are actually quite minor.
I will be measuring my editing time down to the second, including my "thinking about it" time. Because I know how fast I write, and I know how fast I edit when I direct the editing. But I don't know how fast I do anything else. So, back to my magic calendar, my stop-watch, and all of that. Starting tonight, after I finish cleaning up my office. It's a physical ritual, the Clearing of the Office, before one can embark on a new stage of the project. I don't have much left to do--the big stuff has been sorted. Maybe an hour of that work, before I can move on...
The weekend...
I had a bit of a weekend planned. Head out to the lake Friday afternoon. Go see my stepdaughter's horse show at the end of camp. Spend Saturday with
joytulip and her son, Xavier, who come to Michigan every summer; then have daveamongus and tappu's kids over to swim with Xavier. Then, I realized Mary Robinette Kowal was in town (what's "in town" for Michigan? Anywhere within a hundred miles, basically), recording at Brilliance in Grand Haven. So, I extended the invite to her to hang at the cottage Friday night, and I'd take her to the airport on Saturday before
joytulip arrived. It'd be a crowded weekend, but so worth it, and when she took me up on the offer, I was excited to have a writing buddy for an evening and part of a day. Mary was wrapping up her edit letter for Glamour and Glass, and I was still trying not to hyperventilate every time I looked at mine for After a leisurely Saturday morning and lunch, I took Mary to the airport, came back, and had a nap, waiting for
joytulip and Xavier--and then got the news that Mary's flights were delayed. Selfishly delighted, we invited her back to the cottage. My father-in-law went to get her, while I greeted Tami and X. Full house! Every bedroom taken! The cottage is the most fun that way.Mary managed to finish her edits that evening, after a dinner under the animal heads at Sam's Joint, while the rest of us took a boat ride. After Xavier and my in-laws went to bed, Mary, Tami and I drank my brother-in-law's gin (sorry, Barry!) with tonic and lime on the porch until the wee hours. A very nice conversation, about language and literature.
In the morning, I got up way too early (relatively) to hit up the store for brats and buns and chips and things before the West Michigan Klechas showed. There was eating, then swimming... then departures. Dave and Tarri took Mary up to the airport on their way home, and I took a nap before heading back to get my stepdaughter from her mom's, and taking us home.
One of those weekends that lasts a week, the kind you need every once in a while just to remind yourself how much living you can fit between breaths.