76: The Author’s Edition
2/17/2014
I’m working hard now on getting my edited roughs of Dissolutions transcribed into a legible format. My Author’s Edition. Writing longhand like this, I only average 17 words per minute (yes, I timed it), and it’s taking a toll on my poor writing hand. Carpal tunnel syndrome is coming along just fine though.
I got 24,000 words transcribed since I started which is about six hours straight a day for four days. Of course, it really took a lot longer with formatting the headers and margins on each page and pausing to work the kinks out of the wrist of my writing hand. Plus, I do a word count of each scene as I finish them, taking 20-30 minutes each.
I also took a couple days to transcribe four fables into my Author’s Edition before starting on Dissolutions. When I’m done transcribing chapter eight, I still have to create and transcribe three more fables for chapters one, two, and four before I can truly say the first half of my book is done.
When I went back through scene ten, where Diallo approaches L’Norien, I became frustratingly aware that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve got a good deal of flora and fauna details, but they are all encyclopedic. Dry and inert. I don’t believe the narrator (me) has really been there and knows what these birds, plants, and terrain are really like. I need to infuse them with evocative details that could only be known by someone who has been there.
That’s what these world building scenes need – things nobody could accurately imagine or make up without first-hand experience. Otherwise, it’s just a travel brochure. I got the names of things, their colors, etc., but not their essence. I want LIFE, not shadow imitations. Which means… Lots of work to do.
Present-Day Reflection
8/9/2026
My Author’s Edition, in the version as it stood back then, was merely my official first draft. Today, my Author’s Edition is the version that I like best, distinct from what editors and A.I. suggest the books should be.
I haven’t had any trouble with carpal tunnel in a long time. Probably not since 2024, the last time I had long bouts of writing longhand. I call it Carpal tunnel, but that’s not really what it was. It was more likely just me straining the tendons in my wrist. I never experienced numbness or tingling, only soreness pains. And my thumb and fingers were never effected by it, just my wrist.
Carpal tunnel sounds better though than mere straining. It’s something I never came close to ever experiencing from typing. I can type all day long with no problem.
Life is better these days, there can be no doubt. Still lots of work to do though.
