Writer’s Rambling Madness

I’m all over the board today. I think it’s part of my New Year adjustment time. I look back on the year that passed, take stock of where I am, and begin to finalize my goals for the year ahead. It’s a process that takes me most of the month of January.

Past reflections:

Hard work paid off. I was offered two contracts on novels last year. I am very grateful.

I learned a lot about me in the process. I’m grateful for the journey and the experience.

Point in time reflection: Wednesday, January 9, 2013

I finished reviewing my galley from my editor for BAYOU BORN.

Galley defined by Dictionary.com

1) A kitchen or an area with kitchen facilities in a ship, plane or camper

2) Nautical

a) A seagoing vessel

b) a long rowboat

c) a shoal-draft vessel

3) Printing

a) a long, narrow tray, usually of metal, for holding type that has been set

b) galley proof

c) a rough unit of measure, about 22 inches, for type composition.

My galley is a PDF with line numbers down the left side.

I’m amazed at how numbers down the side of page are so incredibly useful.

First let me explain. I often think I’m a slow learner. I absorb information in a particular way, it’s never fast. I process information in layers. So, I am willing to hear the same information multiple times, just like watching a movie many times, because I get something new each time. My understanding expands. My knowledge grows.

My husband has often said, “You must pay attention because you don’t know what you don’t know.”

I learned that reading my manuscript line by line with numbers down the left side makes glaring errors, ones that were hidden from my brain before, as clear as clean crystal in bright sunlight.

I’m not going to wait for galleys to clean up my next manuscript. I now know how to make my brain “see” things differently.

I’m sharing because it might help you.

 

Future: Goals – I’m working on those. Tomorrow night, I am going to a critique group and one of the items we’re going to cover is goals for 2013. I need to finish capturing mine on paper. I’ve blogged about goals before. If have an interest in the most succinct process, check out SMART goals.

 

Now, to the humorous side of blogging. If you blog, you get SPAM. I never cared for the kind in the can. The only time I ate it was at Girl Scout camp when we used it for foil dinners. I’ve met people who swear that SPAM Sushi is yummy…eke, I can’t imagine letting it cross my lips.

However, in blogging, SPAM is a different sort of animal. Equally undesirable to me. I believe annyoing others must work; otherwise Spammers would stop sending needless notes.

If anyone has any ideas or information about preventing SPAM, please share with all of us. I send my appreciation in advance.

Here are the most recent offenders in my SPAM folder:

I love your writing style really enjoying this internet site. “Beware how you take away hope from another human being.” by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Now, I’m often not as careful as I need be with my punctuation. I admit, I hate the self-correction feature on texting because some of the texts I send make me look like an idiot. However, what impression does the post above give you about its author?

 

i like this subject and it will help me a lot with my homework. thanks for helping

At least the comments above are in complete sentences. I guess there are lots of folks doing homework about Mardi Gras?

 

I think this site has got very superb indited subject material content.

I won’t venture a clue about what the meaning of that sentence means.

 

So to all the Spamers out there in Spam-land, if you’re going to annoy the rest of us, at least make the posts funny, original and intelligent. Please.

 

Happy Reading and Writing,

Linda Joyce

www.linda-joyce.com