And Even More Quebec and Edits

What I'm reading: 9 Dragons, by Michael Connelly

As I write this, I'm home again. A cold front had blown through and we returned home to glorious weather. Today, it's laundry, so while the machines do their things, I thought I'd recap more trip highlights.

Thursday, the weather was crisp and sunny enough to walk through the old city, although I felt the aftermath of the previous night's walk to and from the port. One of my goals was to visit the Choco Musée, which is a small display and shop outside of the old city, not too far from the hotel. The distances aren't great, but the changes in elevation are killer. I can't imagine navigating those sidewalks and stairs in icy conditions.

I did get to the museum and chocolate shop, and treated myself to a box of assorted confections. The box was almost too pretty to open -- almost.



These are the chocolates I picked out.



And if you have a few minutes, check out their website.


On my wanderings, I found a couple of Irish pubs, so we decided we'd go back down there for dinner. We ended up at St. Patrick's where the Guinness was on tap (although it was a fast pour), and the fish and chips were … well, they weren't the same as the ones I had in England. Of course, after walking down to the pub, we had to walk back up to the hotel.

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As for the 'working' part of the day:

After turning in my revisions, and getting editorial comments, I mentioned that I had originally written a different sort of ending for the book, and since she was having trouble with the way the current ending was going, I said I'd send it to her. Luckily, I had an old, old draft on my laptop with that first ending.

I didn't want to spend TOO much of my 'vacation' time working on edits if she didn't like the concept, but I did give it a rough polish and figure out where it would fit into the existing manuscript. She liked the new version better, so we're back to editing again. Cutting, pasting, checking for continuity, weaving in transitions was a challenge. I'm used to working on my PC, and having a printer on hand so I can look at a hard copy to catch things like repeats, places where I hit 'copy' instead of 'cut', etc. But, I trudged through it, and sent it back to her.

She sent her comments and edits. This time, she not only said things like, "here she should look at him, searching for ... 'something' … and then "and here she finds whatever it was" but she also added bits of dialogue, touches of narrative. The issue then becomes deciding 1) if I agree with the premise; and 2) if the wording is not my voice (or the voice of my character), and how to adjust it so it is.

I'm fortunate to have an editor who's willing to discuss why she wants changes, and who will listen to my reasoning when I don't agree. We must have gone back and forth half a dozen times on the final paragraph of the manuscript, before we found the wording that evoked the right reactions in both of us. I don't like to think of our process as one of compromises, because that implies that we end up with something neither of us really likes.

Tomorrow, my guest is Sheila Deeth, who will be talking about alternative routes to publication.

And More from Quebec City

The promised post on "Floating Body Parts" is below -- just thought I'd add a bit more color from Quebec City.

The other night, we had dinner at a local restaurant, "blu". You might recall the pictures I posted from our trip to Nassau of the restroom signs (here).

These were a little easier to figure out. As they were on opposite sides of the room, the panels showed you which direction to go

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and then the doors were marked so you didn't wander into the kitchen or a storage closet.

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More from Quebec City

The weather here is definitely a change from Florida. And changeable in its own right. Yesterday's morning overcast turned into sunshine, but around 5 PM, as I was diligently working on edits, I glanced out the window and the air was white and moving sideways. Fog? Mist from the waterfront? Nope. Snow. And wind. Much wind. Strong wind. It was gone almost as quickly as it arrived, but one tree across the street met its demise.

Edits and Travel

What I'm reading: Tarleton's Wife, by Blair Bancroft

Where I am: Quebec City

I uploaded a few pictures from my hotel room window yesterday, so if you haven't seen them, scroll down for a peek at the view.

My editor was pleased with my revisions--thank goodness. She said: "You did a really awesome job. I couldn't stop reading last night. The parts that are missing from before I didn't miss at all, can't even seem to remember what they were, and the new parts blend in seamlessly, like they were there all along."

She also said: "I only have a few comments, which I will include, or you might think I didn't read it :) You can pick and choose what to accept or reject as before, and I will not mention them gain. (I would, however, be remiss as an editor in not mentioning them now.) Basically, when you get it back, just check the comments, adjust as you see fit, send it back."

Those "few" comments numbered 57. Most were trivial, but there were still a few places where our opinions differed. And there were still a few requested changes that were more than simple edits. It's one thing to change comma usage, or point out I was inconsistent in things like 'oversize' and 'oversized, or I kept changing Erica's name to Erin. Those are the easy fixes. Then you get to the comment that says, "Can you insert something about such-and-so somwhere?" That take more than 'accept change." But we've finalized the title at last: NOWHERE TO HIDE.

I opted not to deal with the changes when I got them Friday, since there was a lot to do in preparation for this trip. I have the file with me, and will deal with this "last" round of edits while hubby is off at meetings.

Meanwhile, our trip to Quebec was uneventful from an airline standpoint. Flights were on time, baggage arrived, the plane on the leg to Quebec was full of familiar marine mammal people, and our hotel reservation was in order (well, sort of, because someone else is supposed to be picking up the tab, and we'll definitely have to sort that out, because we're staying at the official conference hotel, which is a Hilton and the room rate runs at least twice what we'd normally be willing to pay.) And, there were some wonderful characters who will definitely appear in future books.

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So, after checking in, we dumped our luggage in the room and went down to the bar for a drink and some food.

The head-banger. In the back of my mind, I know this part of Canada is French speaking. But somehow, it didn't make its way to the front until right before we left. Hubby said a group of his colleagues and acquaintances from the old days at the UM marine lab were going to have dinner. I asked what the appropriate attire would be (since I would have to pack it!), and he sent me to the restaurant website. Which was in FRENCH. Totally!

I took some Latin in junior high and high school, and German in college. Totally unhelpful when listening to French and/or French accented English. I am very much a 'visual' learner, especially when it comes to language. I need to see the words written down to compare them to what I'm hearing. At the bar, I ordered onion soup (which was tres bien). But I asked the bartender to pronounce it for me as I read, so I could see where the words and sounds stopped and started.

French is the first language here, and while everyone speaks English (at least the people I'll have to deal with), I think it's only polite to make some attempt to use a little of their language. At the moment, it's please, thank you, good evening, and … onion soup.

I got out with a real' camera once the sun brightend the skies. But I have to get those edits done, and regardless of where I am, it has to be a priority.

Come back tomorrow when my guest, Debra Doggett will talk about the need for a sense of humor.