I've spent nearly all of my days off this summer working on one manuscript or the other. At one point I got both books back from the different publishers within a day of each other, with two weeks to turn them both around. It was a wonderful problem to have, in fact, it's the kind of problem I've long dreamed of having.
My long term goal is to transition to a livelihood that isn't quite as physically demanding, because I'm not getting any younger. During the winters I've been taking classes at North Seattle Community College, completing a program in Communication, Business and Media. (This blog started as a project for a class I took there.) I want to figure out a way to use my writing skills to help get the message out about local, sustainable foods, and why they're so important.
I'm learning so much from this copyediting process. It doesn't come naturally to me; I'm not detail-oriented by nature. The past couple of weeks I've been reviewing revisions and suggestions made to "The Accidental Vegan" made by a freelance editor who specializes in vegetarian cookbooks. Her style is very different from mine: she wants everything to be as specific as possible, while I think of recipes as outlines or blueprints. Sometimes I feel like I'm starting to hate this editor, and then I'll find a comment like, "This sounds yummy. I'm going to stop for the day and go cook some."
In the end, I'm sure we'll work out a series of compromises, making the instructions as detailed as possible while still leaving plenty of wiggle room. and the next time I sit down to write a recipe, I'll be thinking about it differently, asking different kinds of questions, and working to make it more user-friendly.
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