Sunshine!

[cleolinda]

Wow. It is really kind of ridiculous how good I feel when it's sunny and how bad I feel when it's not. I joke about being solar-powered, but I'm starting to wonder.

Anyway, the entire rest of the week was nothing but nasty grim weather (although it was nice to listen to the rain at night). I'm still proofing the e-book somewhat obsessively (but then, I do this for recaps and Secret Lifes and 15Ms as well), and I'm doing a final read-through--is that really necessary, you ask? Because I asked myself the same thing. And in re-reading the notes for "Prisoner of Azkaban," I found one (1) typo, one (1) bad link, and one (1) incorrect footnote cross-reference (yes, even considering that I've figured out how to F9 and sync them all automatically). So of the three things I was looking for, I found exactly one each--which is enough to prove that I have to keep going.

But it got to the point where I wrote the introduction yesterday, worked on a few non-e-book things, and then just... packed it up for the day. (Well, the chimney guy showed up, so I had to pack up anyway. Turns out our "chase pan" is badly rusted--he took pictures on his phone and showed me--so there's yet another repair bill to add to the pile. Not sure how much it'll be yet--he has to work up an estimate and get back to us.) I made myself some soup and a sandwich and camped out to watch an old Katharine Hepburn movie--Undercurrent, which was pretty good, except that the end kind of fell apart. The moment she's up on a beautiful woodsy secluded cliff with Robert Mitchum and they're talking about how the water below is calm but sometimes you just can't tell that there's a dangerous UNDERCURRENT, I kept thinking, surely this is where the climax of the movie is going to be. Evil Husband Robert Taylor will totally try to throw Hepburn off the cliff but in the struggle he'll slip and plunge to his death (see, accidental comeuppance absolves your hero/heroine of any responsibility for the villain's death, which is why you see it so often), and Mitchum will run up and probably clasp her in his arms and they will look down at the tiny splash Taylor made and say something Deep and Significant about the secret UNDERCURRENT of his madness.

Yeah. Mitchum wasn't anywhere near the Thrilling Climax of the movie. Evil Possessive Inventor-Murdering Robert Taylor went all cray-cray and tried to shove Hepburn off an entirely different cliff on the other side of the country USING HIS HORSE and when that didn't work he pretended to get thrown by his (wild, crazy, untameable) horse so she would get down from her own and get close enough for him to grab her and then after a "thrilling" chase on horseback a rogue branch decides to get in on the action and clothesline her and so she's flat on the ground and Robert Taylor is going to bash her head in with a sizable rock and THEN! The Wild Crazy Untameable Horse comes over and tromps him to death in the head while Hepburn cowers and screams. And then Hepburn and Mitchum play the piano together. What?

I will say, I did appreciate that Robert Taylor was actually a bit sympathetic in his crazy, but also that when he went into a towering rage of possessiveness and started shrieking, "YOU WILL NEVER EVER LEAVE ME, ANN, NEVARRRRR!!!," Katharine Hepburn's reaction in the next scene is to start packing like hell. HA. Although there is a part where he shows up at the gates of their estate and stops her from leaving, and I was like, you know Katharine Hepburn is a good actress when she can make me believe that she's a meek and nervous enough ingenue to go back to the house with him. Actual Katharine Hepburn would have just run him over with the car, I'm pretty sure.

So there was that. That was pretty entertaining. And I didn't do a lick of work the rest of the day, and both my eyes and my intestinal fortitude feel a lot better for it today. Yay.


ETA: And there's an incorrect link on "Goblet of Fire." Sarcastic yay.

ETA: And there's a cross-reference that's just wildly incorrect. Outstanding.

Comments

[katharhino.livejournal.com]

Actual Katharine Hepburn would have just run him over with the car, I'm pretty sure.

BWAHA! I love Katharine Hepburn and I love that I have the same first name, spelled the same way. It's like I have something in common with her even though I totally don't. *sigh*

[lisa-zj.livejournal.com]

It's good to take a break every now & then. Things will still get done, and what you need to do will still be there when you get back to it. We're all looking forward to the e-book and whatever else you might write, but we also want you to take care of you. **Since I AM presumptuous enought to speak for the whole internet. Yes I am**

[chulacabra.livejournal.com]

Actual Katharine Hepburn would have just run him over with the car, I'm pretty sure.

Looooooool!

That movie sounds totally awesome. I hope Netflix has it.

Also, bouncing up and down in anticipation of the e-book.

Also, also, have you noticed that actual paper books are now full of typos and weird errors? I don't think publishers have the money/staff to properly proof books anymore.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Possibly they don't, I don't know. I noticed some bizarre errors in the Twilight series, but... well.

[greedyskunk.livejournal.com]

I know! I finished the 4th Sookie Stackhouse book last month. It introduced Jason's boss as Shirley Hunter (or Hennessey). At the end of the book was the first chapter of the 5th book. In it, Jason's boss apparently changed his last name to Hennessey (or Hunter). Come on! Granted he's a minor character, but names should be one of the easiest things to keep track of.

[pocket-size-g.livejournal.com]

Wow. It is really kind of ridiculous how good I feel when it's sunny and how bad I feel when it's not. I joke about being solar-powered, but I'm starting to wonder.

Look into a light box! Having mine on a couple of hours every morning has made a huge difference to my energy levels. As winter comes, I'll see how my mood goes, but hopefully it will also keep my SAD/depression at bay.

[sea-of-tethys.livejournal.com]

Actually I can see how an editor could miss that mistake quite easily, if they switched copy-editors between books. The new editor might well not have read the other books, or not have been given any of the documentation (stylesheets, lists of character names, etc.) from when they were edited.

The author making that mistake is a little more worrying, though.

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

"Katharine Hepburn's reaction in the next scene is to start packing like hell."

Old movies are actually pretty good that way, the occasional "back to the house with him" scene notwithstanding. See also "Citizen Kane."

Kane: "You can't do this to me!"
Susan: ". . . Oh yes I can!" (Exit.)

Bella Swan, please take notes.

[msilverstar]

Maybe you can get someone else to proofread. Once you've read the thing 20 times, it's easy to skip mistakes, but another person will catch them. Not that I'm volunteering, mind you, but I'm sure you have many who would.

[sachielle.livejournal.com]

Actually, if you really do need someone to proofread, I'm editor of my colleges paper. And the head of the English department is a renowned grammar Nazi who owes me copious favors. So yeah. Just puttin' that out there if you're interested.

*Goes back to lurking*

[softerthansound.livejournal.com]

Wow. It is really kind of ridiculous how good I feel when it's sunny and how bad I feel when it's not. I joke about being solar-powered, but I'm starting to wonder.
I've just noticed this recently about myself, it's remarkable. Have you ever gotten one of those lamps that's meant to mimic the sunlight during the winter months? They're really helpful -- if you find that this really is an affecting thing, definitely give it a try.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I actually have a full-spectrum lamp now. I should really plug that thing in.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

The problem with a lot of it is that it's stuff only I would catch or know was wrong--what link/note I intended to go to, etc. I may get someone to do a final read, but I've still got the issue of needing to check things for myself.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I do, actually--I need to bust that thing out, particularly with winter on its way.

[robinmc.livejournal.com]

I feel like I need to see this movie just for meek Katharine Hepburn. I can't picture it. And yet I don't doubt you when you say that she's entirely believable.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I know, right? The role is similar to New Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca, if that makes any sense. Young, socially unpolished wife, glamorous and worldly husband, suspense, etc. It helps that Ann's variety of "unpolished" is being kind of boyish and unkempt at the beginning, rather than a girlier Joan Fontaine kind. But yeah, it's really intriguing to see Katharine Hepburn play a character with doubt and fear and insecurity, because I associate her with a very brash, cheerful confidence.

[anonymeet.livejournal.com]

On Charlaine Harris's website, she talks about having the money only in the last couple of years to hire a continuity editor. She talks about it like she has hired one herself, personally, not that the publisher has (though I couldn't swear to that). So, I don't know, maybe publishers don't spend that kind of effort or & on editing. Though you would think they'd want to.

I also think it's weird that she can't keep her characters' names straight, though. I mean, come one, if you're in doubt, go get one of your loevly, bound, author's copies down off your shelf and check.

[tygress.livejournal.com]

Man, now I want to watch Katherin Hepburn films.

AMC/TCM, why are you not cooperating with your scheduling today!!

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Also, also, have you noticed that actual paper books are now full of typos and weird errors? I don't think publishers have the money/staff to properly proof books anymore.

I don’t know how other publishers handle it, but when I worked at St. Martin's Press most of the copyediting and proofreading was done by freelancers.

A word of advice to writers: please, please, take ten minutes to type up a reference sheet listing the names of people and places in your story (especially if you made them up and randomly stuck accents and apostrophes hither and yon; yeah, I’m looking at you, author of ten-volume Tolkien rip-off). It will prevent so many headaches down the line.

[mirhanda.livejournal.com]

Looks like there's more rain on the way too. This has been such a rainy season. I guess we needed it but I'm really getting tired of all the rain lately.

[acaciakitty.livejournal.com]

You know when I feel REALLY good? Windy days. It does not matter if it is sunny or overcast, but if the wind is blowing, I feel so... RAR!FIERCE for lack of a better word. I think all of the movement on a windy day motivates me.

[chulacabra.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I just got an agent for my novel, so thanks for the tip! A lot of my characters have Spanish names and there are a lot of Spanish words used throughout the book so I can see it being a problem if the editor isn't familiar with the language.

[chulacabra.livejournal.com]

Er, I've been guilty of that just with the one novel I've written. It can take years to write a book and it's pretty easy to change a character's name and then forget to go back and fix it in the chapters that are already written.

although i suppose cray-cray certainly works too

[discogravy.livejournal.com]

I don't know how to describe this other than "omfgwtfbbqaol"

Re: although i suppose cray-cray certainly works too

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Man, that freaked my dogs out so bad.