This morning I finished going through my book. I've been working on it everyday since Sunday. I have to admit going through to edit and revise is not nearly as much fun as writing. But, it must be done. One of the biggest mistakes (according to Writers Digest) that self publishers make is either sloppy editing or no editing at all. I've even noticed more mistakes in e-books I've been reading lately. And those are published authors. I've done enough reading to have found a mistake here and there in a book but have noticed that rate seems to be much higher in the downloadable era.
I will spend the rest of the day fixing and rewriting. I plan to have this sent off to the professional editor (Written Dreams) by the end of next week. I can only go so far as the editor of my own writing. I told the story I wanted to tell and amazingly didn't have a whole bunch of rewrites. It seemed to come in sprits. It seemed that days I was 'on' in my writing had less sections to change and the days that I had to 'push' myself to advance the story are filled with red and notes and other highlighting colors.
I'm moving forward but after this weekend the process will go slower due to the start of the school year. It all starts for me on Wednesday. I can't wait to see the kids again.
The final Major in golf is on this weekend and the only thing missing is the brother-in-law. That's probably a good thing since I need to be working on the book rather than playing video games. On the subject of sports I have to comment on Alex Rodriguez. He was just suspended for 211 games in baseball for using PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs). I watched a very uncomfortable interview with him where he has decided to appeal the decision. Twelve other players looked at the evidence and decided to accept their penalty. I would love to see someone take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences. In the interview he made it sound like there was some sort of witch hunt going on. He asked the fans in 2009 to judge him from that moment on after admitting to using drugs (well, in reality he was 'caught'). If he really loves the game like he claims to he would stop the appeal and do what would be best for baseball.
I was always conflicted on the subject of PEDs in sports (yes, it is in all of them, just ask Lance Armstrong). I use to wonder what the big deal was. Cheating has always been a part of sports. But it was the kind of cheating like stealing signs from the other team or reading lips or watching the telecast. We have enough problems without sports condoning the use of drugs. I'm glad baseball is taking the lead on eliminating PEDs. Hopefully other sports will follow. I want to get back to talking about the great races for the playoffs rather than the 100 million Rodriguez stands to lose for, well, breaking the rules of his profession.
I love baseball. My next story I've been working on is about the sport (and other themes). I hope it will be a magical story along the lines of Field of Dreams. I haven't completely figured it out yet but look forward to digging deeper once I finish Welcome to Utopia.
Until next week... God Bless!