Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Final corrections?

I've just finished another revision of The World According to Boring John. Finished it yesterday. I'm pleased about this, but also somewhat dismayed when I had thought the book was completed in January. And I have no doubt I'll find some 'mistakes', or something not quite right, when I reread the book again in a couple of weeks. Hmm, when will it ever end? (I certainly don't want to be making nit-picking changes ad infinitum, that's for sure.)

Anyway, the corrections I'm going to be making today include going through the manuscript looking for certain phrases. I want to make sure that they are necessary in each case they occur. And those phrases? Well, they include such gems as...
  • 'this book', 'this', 'this thing' etc. (should it be in italics or not?)
  • 'sucks' (should I use this word quite so often?)
  • 'contractual agreement' versus 'contractual arrangement' (look for the word, 'contract')
  • 'see' versus 'y'see' versus 'you see'
  • Do I need all of my heehees and hehehs?
  • 'Ya' versus 'you'
And, after reading the briefest of a piece about Kurt Vonnegut and his dislike of the semi-colon, I want to review all of my semi-colons - most of which are probably used incorrectly, alas. (Oh to have gone to a grammar school when I was a child!)

Okay, best crack on with it, then!...

PS Down to a wordcount of 69, 360 words

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