The answer? Very long. It can take very, very long indeed.

We're making progress, though. The list of pictures is slowly growing, as is the number of references in their final format. That's not hard work, but nitpicky stuff that includes lots of looking up the missing details in the references. Final edit has been done, and there are only a few last little issues that need discussing, checking, or clearing.

Which is very good - since the clock is ticking. Soon now. Soon.

Well, more or less. I'm still feeling the strain of the editing marathon, but things have settled down a bit, and I can concentrate on the other stuff now. There also was a nice bit of resting time on the weekend, which was utterly necessary and did a world of good.

The other stuff is finishing up the picture collection, tidying up the reference formats, and taking care of stray odds and ends in the index word list. Which sounds like easy-peasy work, and it sort of is, but it's also mind-numbing and time-consuming. Not many days left to suffer from this, though!

As this very, very late blog post might tell you, I've been swamped. I managed to finish the proofread yesterday, but I still need to transfer a good-sized portion of the corrections into the file, and well... other things have been set aside and need to be dealt with, too.

So I'll do the smart and sensible thing and will leave off blogging until next week - I'll probably be back on Tuesday.

And now back to my way-past-schedule manuscript corrections and back to the two Big Questions: Why on earth did we write that much? And why did it seem like a good idea at that time to make all these corrections?

Right.


The end is nigh, though, as you can see from the much-diminished stack of paper to the right - the one without all the red speckles at the side and in the text.

In case you are wondering about the speckles in the margin, I'm using a standardised system of correction marks - Germany has that thing about standardising stuff, and this is one of the instances where rules come in really handy. I learned it out of the Duden (something like the Merriam-Webster for German), way back when I first started copyediting. The basic principle, and the most important one: You do a mark in the text where the correction is needed, then you repeat the same mark in the margin and write out the correction. For inserting commas, you strike the mark right through the last letter of the word, then repeat the letter and place a comma behind it in the margin note. For lots of corrections in one line, you need to be inventive with the marks - but it always remains very clear and very unambiguous, and you only need to scan the margin to see where your next correction will be. There are a few additional special marks, such as "close up margin" or "insert margin" or "italicise", but they are not as important as that basic principle.

I've edited many a manuscript using this system, as it's clear and works well even if lots of corrections are needed. The sheet on the bottom left is for note-taking so I can keep track of the things that need it. The chocolate and tea should be obvious, and the apple is there to make it look as if I might choose a healthy snack. (Hah. Maybe I will.)

The cup, by the way, states my intention for this thing and this day!

I'm in two minds about it being Friday already - on the one hand, I'm really looking forward to the weekend, and on the other hand, I am not too happy that the week is over and I have still so much work left to do. Involving the book, of course, first and foremost.

Proofreading something in a non-native language is one notch harder to do than doing it in your native tongue, so I'm groaning quietly to myself even more than when I do a German proof. At least I know that it is normal for me to start looking at perfectly familiar words and wonder whether they were always written in this weird way...

I'm making progress, though. Assisted, just like the past few days, by ample amounts of tea in different variations and a sleeping cat as well as generous allowances of chocolate. Plus I'm getting some relaxing non-brain-intensive stuff done in the breaks, such as tidying up things and putting stuff away and sorting files. (And brewing more tea, and cuddling the cat - but the last point is compulsory on any day.)

There are three things that make proofreading much nicer to do: tea, chocolate, and sunshine. While I can make sure to get ample of the first two of these, sunshine is harder to control - so I'm absolutely delighted that the sun is actually shining today, and as soon as my stint at the computer will be finished (transferring those edits and corrections to the file itself), I'll sit down in the winter garden and enjoy some sun, light, and warmth while working.

There's not much else, news-wise, at the moment. Proofing is always slow work, and I have to do it in small batches and take frequent breaks to make sure that I'm fully concentrated so that I can catch as much of the issues as possible.

And with that, I will leave you to your regulary scheduled rest-of-day... while I will go read some more. The sooner I'll be finished with that, the sooner I'll be able to spend more time on the next project that has come up, which is also book-related, and which I'll tell you more about as soon as it comes out of its wonky very early stage.

I'm planning to spend a large chunk of my time today on proofreading - the book has been printed, and I am wielding my Red Pen of Doom and am marking it up. It is always amazing and slightly (or more than slightly) frightening how much of a difference the printout makes. I can proofread someone else's article okay on a screen, but with my own writing or with longer things, nothing can beat a printout and the old-fashioned pen.

While I am reading, you might want to have some words to look at, too. So here are links to provide you with fodder:

First of all, 2015 is the anniversary of the English Magna Carta - and the surviving four copies have actually met for the first time ever. Here's a blog post about their meeting. (And about them.)

Isis at Medieval Silkwork writes about ground fabrics for embroidery. (Those that I know are mostly linen, by the way, with a very few silk ones thrown in. And I've found out that if you are doing counted work, there's a limit to how unbalanced a fabric can be to still have a nice-looking embroidery - distortion, anyone?)

More reading? As in book form reading? Here you go.

Penelope Walton Rogers has her own press now, Pangur Press, and she's starting off with free .pdf versions of some of her earlier publications - including the two volumes from York about textiles and textile production.

There you go. Have fun reading!