I’m not sure which of these themes — Zeno, Rube, or dominoes — best apply to my attempts to finish the final manuscript for The Day-Glo Brothers, but they’ve all been on my mind lately.
After a few passes back and forth between me and my editor, I was almost done. Then I attached my author’s note. At the very end of the author’s note I tossed in one little bitty scientific concept that I hadn’t thought to address in the manuscript itself.
Yes, this totally ignored the epiphany I had last month (“You’ve got to introduce the science before you need it”). And so, of course, I then had to tweak the body of the manuscript in order to lay the groundwork for including that one little bitty scientific concept.
But that tweak opened up an inconsistency between scientific explanations I give on pages 5 and 9, and it required some reworking on page 10 as well. And all of these places where I have to massage the text to make sure it’s consistent and accurate and well-said seem to involve changes to the surrounding text. And who knows what those will lead to…
But I have to say that I’m glad things are going the way that they’re going. I’m enjoying the challenge and the introduction to what goes into making a picture book ready for prime time. And I’m thrilled with my editor’s enthusiasm, eye for detail, and commitment to quality.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some tweaks to attend to.
It sounds like things are going great. I can’t wait to read it!
It sounds like things are going great. I can’t wait to read it!
It sounds like things are going great. I can’t wait to read it!
What fun, Chris! Thank you for letting us in on the process, too.
What fun, Chris! Thank you for letting us in on the process, too.
What fun, Chris! Thank you for letting us in on the process, too.
Very cool to be in on the story behind the story.
Very cool to be in on the story behind the story.
Very cool to be in on the story behind the story.
You have no idea how gratifying it is to hear y’all say that — I’d hoped that I wasn’t the only weirdo out there who would find this stuff interesting. Thank you all for reading.
You have no idea how gratifying it is to hear y’all say that — I’d hoped that I wasn’t the only weirdo out there who would find this stuff interesting. Thank you all for reading.
You have no idea how gratifying it is to hear y’all say that — I’d hoped that I wasn’t the only weirdo out there who would find this stuff interesting. Thank you all for reading.