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Sunday, February 8, 2009

Trying not to Fall Asleep

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:

Annette Lyon said...

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!

Marsha Ward said...

Don't you just hate that!

Amanda said...

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.

Nancy Campbell Allen said...

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.

C. Michelle Jefferies said...

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.