By Marcia Mickelson
So, I've finished my current manuscript, and it's all printed out. Now, I'm reading through it to proofread, revise, and edit. It's already gone through a good edit and some revisions. I'm just reading through to make sure I'm consistent. I've already caught several mistakes--things I forgot to take out during editing that makes no sense now.
I'm about 2/3 done with it, but for some reason every time I sit down to read it, I get really sleepy. I hope this isn't saying anything about how boring it might be. I don't think it's boring, I'm just really sleepy these days.
I had the opportunity to have a whole half day to myself without kids. So, I went to the library with manuscript in hand hoping to read for two hours. I think it's best to read through it quickly because it helps me check for continuity errors. If there's too much time left between reading, I might not catch something.
So, here I was in a beautiful, brand new library with no kids in tow. I didn't even have to step foot in the kids' section. And, what happened? I started to fall asleep. It was the middle of the day, about 1:00 PM and I could not stay awake. I lay my head down on the table for a few minutes and finally gave up after an hour. Again, I don't think my book is boring, but gosh I couldn't stop nodding off. It felt like my old days at BYU where I'd look for a secluded corner or couch to take a nap.
So, I gave up and just went home. The other night, I sat at the kitchen table to read over the manuscript again and a half hour later, there I was again falling asleep. I want to finish reading this thing, but I just keep falling asleep. I think I just need to get more sleep. It's 11:42 PM. I really better go to bed. I'll try again tomorrow and hope that I don't fall asleep reading my book. I might start to lose confidence in my manuscript.
5 comments:
That happened to me constantly when I was pregnant with my first. To this day, I still have to convince my body that when I'm reading that it's NOT time for a nap!
Don't you just hate that!
Marcia, I didn't get sleepy once when reading your book. Maybe it's just fatigue because you've gone over it so much. I've started to do the same with MatchMakers, too.
I can so relate! I think you just need to rest, it's not a reflection on your writing. :-) You know, we can keep moving and getting stuff done, but if we dare to sit down, and it's quiet!, well, that's just asking for a nap.
What I hate is when I fall asleep while I'm writing! That's never a good sign.
I do that everytime I do my first word spell and grammar check. It takes me a few times to go throught it. THAT kind of edit is so boring but for me it is so helpful. THe read out loud edit I love but I can't do it while anyone is around I'm too shy to let anyone hear me.
I think we hear it so much we get tired of it, as if we offered the same thing for dinner EVERY night.
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