I just used Lulu.com to create a calendar from some photos I did in Thailand when I was there in 2003 with my lovely wife. Go check it out!
This was a lot of fun to do, as it had me looking at the pictures quite seriously, remembering places and people and in general putting myself back into a country that is half a world away. What an incredibly beautiful country it is in many ways!
Here are some samples of the pictures:
I just started writing again yesterday and hit a very prolific stride rather early on, churning out a good amount of new material. Mostly at this point I am editing the book, taking out chunks, recrafting sentences and ideas and deciding what adds to the sory and what does not.
That’s the real question I have been asking myself as I slog through the manuscript. Does this part add to the story somehow, does it take away from the story or is it like a neutral element, doing neither of those things? If something does not add to the story it gets cut. The decision role is the hard part of editing, especially with a narrative story, such as this.
If I were to hire an editor, which is not a simple thing to do on a photographer or teacher‘s salary, the editor would have to read the whole manuscript before being able to judge each individual element. Basically, you have to know the beginning and the narrative path and see what end it comes to before being able to judge what should stay and what should get cut.
Eventually I will have to hire an editor, I think, or get one through whatever publishing house buys the book. The emotional involvement I have with this project is pretty serious and I am sure I am not always making the best decisions when choosing what to keep. I will have to examine this within myself and find a good editor in the next few months.
The timeline has been pushed back a bit, and right now I am looking at being done hopefully by the start of spring. What a great way to start a time of symbolic cleansing and rebirth. I would love to see this become a reality.
Up to now my time has been taken up by my job during the day, teaching at night and trying to find the occasional bit of extra work. Now that things have slowed down, I plan not to take many more new students and spend that time instead on writing.
The new word count: Just shy of 53,000.
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