"Don't Jump!"

I was on a ledge this week.

Like Jack Finney's ledge walker, I was clinging to reality with my fingertips as I witnessed a scrap of my sanity leap from my desk and bolt through a crack in the window.  At that moment I was prepared to renounce my vocation and rejoin those smart folks rising before the sun to submit their freedom to those of higher rank.  

No.  My fist struck the desk, rattling a cheap plastic container of rarely used writing utensils.  Nononononono.  

I rushed across the room and opened the window.  My teeth snapped together as a blast of arctic air attacked my exposed flesh.  Shuddering, I gripped the windowsill and dared to poke my head into the wintry morning.  The sloping roof, the sunken walk, and the dehydrated phlox in the courtyard were concealed beneath a blinding white blanket.  My squinting eyes combed the snow, sifting through its fluffy layers.  Where was my sanity?  I found it lying four feet below the window in a tangle of dead lavender that had broken through the icy carpet.

I clenched the cold windowsill, held my breath, and lunged.

"Don't jump."

What?  My legs thrashed in the warm void of my office, preventing me from pitching forward. 

"Don't jump."

My stomach sunk into the ledge as I balanced my tottering body on the cold sill.  How long could I waver between the warmth of the room and the cold outdoors where my sanity had fled?

"DON'T JUMP!"

A warm breath expelled from my lips, transforming into a white winter mist as it drifted to the mound where my sanity lay.  The vapor faded into the cool morning and I slid back into the warmth of the office.

This week my sanity has been invested in a work I wrote many years ago.  Although I dread reading the ramblings of the past, I've been reformatting Dead Bird in the Weeds.  As I analyze the words, thoughts, and themes of this book, I see a being who does not write, think, speak, or feel as I do.  I'm not worried.

I'm overjoyed.

I'm not going to "jump" by rewriting or pitching Dead Bird in the Weeds.  I'm going to smile and continue with my reformatting.  Why?  Because past works, like the life of an individual, reflect the path we have journeyed to reach our current state of being.  

When you look back, never be afraid to admit that you have outgrown your old writing.  Embrace the change, learn from your mistakes, and grow.

***

Next week I'll be blogging about a chunk of gold I found in the midst of my writerly wanderings.  Well, it's not actually my gold.  It's Jillian's Gold, a novel by Levi Montgomery.

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As always, I love to hear from you. If you’re in the cyber-neighbourhood, drop me a line.

 

In the meantime, keep writing, reading, and smiling.
It’s contagious.

Stop the Press!

"Stop the Press!"

Though cliché, I've always wanted to screech this at a hard-working press operator.  Well, folks, I've done it at last.  I'm glad I screeched, but I'm not glad about the reason behind it.

I am speaking to you now from a self-imposed dungeon.  I'm on skimpy rations, and I'm not allowed to have visitors.  While my back is turned on myself, I'm going to talk to you about the reason why I put all of my titles on hold this week.

Typesetting

This can be an ugly word but when done properly, it can be a thing of beauty.  When I typeset my first book, I ran into formatting issues and had no idea that my word processing program had the capability of fixing them.  Before you send your book to press, scrutinize the layout so you won't be forced to reformat your text after your book has been published.

Below are two pages from my first book, Dead Bird in the Weeds.  I'm going to identify four key problems which I'm fixing before this book is reprinted.

1. The program is set to hyphenate words in order to achieve better spacing when using full justification (no jagged right edges).  
•  Take a look at the word "Terence." The word is split onto two lines.  
• The end of line one:  Ter-  
• The beginning of line two:  ence.  
• Normally I would let this go; however, "ence." not only begins the line, it ends it as well.  For me, this is unpleasing to the eye.  The word is incomplete and too few characters inhabit this line.
• Another example:  Do you really want a word separated like this:  "separated" appearing on line one as "separat-" and finishing on line two as "ed."
  
• How do I fix this?
• Turn off the hyphenation for these two lines, or bump up the character count for the hyphenation.
  
2.  A new paragraph begins on the last line at the bottom of the page.  This problem is called an "orphan."  I pulled every book from my small bookshelf beneath the printer and found this problem does exist in some books, though infrequently.
• How do I fix this?
• End the page with the previous paragraph and push this problem line to the next page.  Keep in mind that facing pages MUST have EXACTLY the same number of lines (if using full pages). 
• If you trust your program, set the "widow & orphan" control to two lines. 
  
3. The last line of the paragraph is the only line at the top of the page.  This problem is called a "widow."  Again, I pulled  every book from the shelf.  I never saw this problem in any of the texts.
• How do I fix this?
•  Send this line to the previous page or end the previous page one line early.  Again, facing pages must have the same number of lines (if using full pages).
• If you trust your program, set the "widow & orphan" control to two lines.
4. The last line on the right page ends as follows:  Mat-
• Well, great!  Do you want to force your reader to turn the page in order to find out what the heck the rest of the word is?  I didn't think so.
  
• I have seen the last word on the left page hyphenated with the remainder of the word appearing at the top of the right page (though it does not happen often).
• How do I fix this?
• Turn off the hyphenation for these two lines, or bump up the character count for the hyphenation. 

Before you begin, make sure you work from left to right.  If you backtrack, you will create new problems in previously edited sections.

Check your titles, and if you fell into the same trap I did, I hope you take the time to go back and fix them.  Your readers will thank you for making their job easier.  After all, you don't want lousy typesetting to destroy the beauty of your words.

OK, I'm done lecturing now. Besides, my jailer is about to turn around.

 

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As always, I love to hear from you. If you’re in the cyber-neighbourhood, drop me a line.

In the meantime, keep writing, reading, and smiling.
It’s contagious.