I just opened the PDF of the page proofs for the Pagan Pregnancy book, and it looks absolutely beautiful. This is the final actual-pages-of-the-book layout; this is exactly what it’s going to look like. The design is lovely. Not that I was worried, but it was like opening an unexpected gift.
My day has just improved exponentially.
Bah. I’m going to print out the hearthcraft book as it stands, and read through it that way. I’ll be better able to see things that are missing or need to be moved, things that can be linked properly, and sketchy parts that way. The computer is doing nothing for me. (Well, it’s downloading things, but you know what I mean.) To avoid Tragic Printing Errors I’ll do it chapter by chapter, and via manual duplex to use both sides of the paper. While I like having a blank sheet of paper opposite the page I’m working on so I can make notes, I don’t think I have 240 pages of paper lying around at the moment. Or maybe I do… I think I have a ream of buff-coloured paper I used for a project filed away in my cupboard. I will check on that.
I don’t know if I should print out the PDFs of the pregnancy book page proofs or not. I don’t want to; it would be a huge waste of paper. But I’ve never handled them electronically before; I’ve always done page proofs with red pencil on paper. I don’t anticipate many errors; there rarely are. And my project editor has said that I can either list the errors in a memo and e-mail it to her, or print the specific pages out and fax/mail them back to her. I’ll try doing them them on the computer first. I’ll bring them with me on the trip, along with the latest version of the hearthcraft book. If I can do a few chapters of the proofs while I’m gone that frees up more writing time once I’m home, and reviewing proofs is easier to do in hour-long or chapter-long chunks when away from home than writing is.
There may still be sun in the living room in which to work.
I just upgraded my eMusic account from basic to plus, and now I can download 50 tracks every month for fifteen dollars. That only five extra dollars for twenty more tracks, and at the rate I’ve been queueing albums for download I wasn’t going to get some of them until five months from now. And I’m still paying less than what I’d pay for a single physical CD for what essentially amounts to five albums’ worth of music.
Now I can have the Erik Friedlander I want for this trip. And I can download all three discs of the Matt Haimovitz Bach solo suites, too! (Well, the first three suites, anyway. I can download the last three after April 1.
I don’t remember the last physical CD I bought in a store. So much of what I want isn’t available through regular channels, or would take months to obtain, or would cost a ridiculous amount of money. (Oh wait, it was Danny Elfman’s Serenada Schizophrenia, and I don’t remember buying it in a store because t! ordered a copy for me via one of his music business contacts.) I really like the option of being able to download selected tracks from an album, too. The one frustrating thing is that some of the artists I hear and want to try out, or buy an album from, aren’t available via eMusic (yet, or whatever).
So I am not at the salon, and my hair is not being cut. There was a death in the family and my stylist is understandably unavailable. We’ve rescheduled for next week.
I still wish my hair was going to be cut before we go down to see my parents.
In other news, my extended extension was no only accepted, my editor told me to take two extra weeks, which was lovely of her. It also confirms my suspicion that she may have been laughing at my original request for three extra days. So now I can go back and forth between the pregnancy page proofs and finishing up the hearthcraft book with no feelings of impending doom or crazed and obsessive calendar-checking. I can also sleep. Which is a good thing.
And in yet more unrelated news, cellists may have an edge when playing Guitar Hero:
On the whole, a musical background seems to help Guitar Hero players. Zach Whitsell’s mother, Betty Whitsell, said her son has played violin, cello and saxophone in the past.
Ming Cheng, a 17-year cello player, said he was able to play the game on the medium level in the store before purchasing the game. He placed fourth in the 16-and-up age bracket on Saturday.
Cello players might have an advantage in the game, Cheng said. He explained that the spacing between the buttons on the controller is almost identical to the spacing between fingers on the strings of a cello.
“It keeps my fingers in shape for cello,†Cheng said. “I don’t have to practice as much.â€
Except:
[Guitar player] Bloomfield is able to strum the notes up and down, which helps boost speed, Cheng said.
“I normally only strum down,†he said. “It’s more accurate, but I get tired faster.â€
Which is a problem I have encountered myself. So when I saw this really interesting video called ‘Taking Trips to America’ promoting the album Block Ice and Propane by cellist jazz alternative musician composer-type person Erik Friedlander yesterday, I was fascinated. Don’t miss the video of Erik performing ‘Yakima’ at the bottom of the page.