murder.booklocker.com

I had a note from an author the other day. He was just finishing the transfer of corrections from a paper draft to his computer. Ironically I’m in midst of the same thing. It seems like it’s taking forever but I have finally reached the last chapter. Not that I’ll be done even then, but at least I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something. Geezers like him (and me, for we are nearly the same age) just can’t seem to let go of paper. I remember Peter Vandenberg at DePaul University asking how many in the class composed on paper. No one. Then he asked how many revised on paper. I’m pretty sure I was one of the few who was still doing a mix. I revise and revise, then print it out. I make corrections, carry them back to the computer and begin more revising.

This time while working with paper I was able to catch that I needed to move three different chapters. Pretty scary when you think about it. I guess I wasn’t aware of it while reading one screen because I don’t generally read whole chapters, let alone several chapters at a time. On the other hand, with a paper copy, I read chapter after chapter. Which is how I caught my mistake.

Which makes me wonder how folks read e-books. PARK RIDGE is available as an e-book from BookLocker.com. More power to those that have mastered it, but I seriously doubt that it will ever be good enough for me. I love the smell of books, the feel of the cover in my hands, the sound of the pages turning. There’s something soul-satisfying about it; the same is true for editing on paper. The scritch of the pen or the abandon with which arrows with long tails can be drawn — I’d miss those things.

So, you’re wondering what this has to do with Halloween? Not much except that I’m expecting to be interrupted any moment by the dull thud of our doorbell (it hasn’t worked since we bought the house fourteen years ago), announcing that beggars are at the door looking for candy.