They say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I'm going to have to learn how to. I've been in this writing business for more than a quarter of a century, and my process has always been to hand edit my manuscripts. I would print them up and then take my red correction pencil, and attack them. What can I say? I'm kind of old, and I'm very old fashioned.
Last week, however, my printer finally printed it's last page. It's been a reliable machine, and has seen me through several novels, tons of short stories, and an unbelievable amount of RPGs and RPG supplements...but all good things must come to an end, right?
As much as I would like to buy a new printer, this simply isn't an option. We barely managed to pay our rent in June, and July is going to take some serious magic, although I think we've figured it out. Paying August's rent will be impossible unless we have a serious turn of good luck...so a printer just isn't that important right now.
This means that I have to start editing on a computer screen, which has never been easy for me. I notice mistakes on paper better than I notice them on a screen. It seems that my brain thinks it knows what I typed when it's on screen, but the mistakes cry out on paper. Still, I have no choice, so I will just have to learn how to edit on screen. This is one tired old dog that doesn't want to do this, but what choice do I have?
I figure it would be best if I start out with a short story, but the project that I'm closest to finishing is a supplement for the Ephemeris 2.0 RPG, and this thing looks like it's going to be 70,000-80,000 words. This will be difficult, but I know I have to do it, so time to learn a new trick.
Wish me luck...
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