08:52 – I just sent our comments on the QC1 galley proofs of the biology book off to our editor.
I had the same experience I have with every book. When I finish a book, I’m always unhappy with it, thinking about all the stuff I should have done differently, all the stuff I should have done that I didn’t do, all the stuff that I did that I shouldn’t have done, and so on. Then a month or so passes and I get the galley proofs. As I start checking them, I always find myself thinking, “Hey, this is actually a pretty good book.” By the time I finish checking them, I’m thinking, “Hey, this is a really good book.”
Not that there aren’t changes I’d have made if it had been possible to do so. The book in QC1 galley proof form is 366 pages. If only I’d had twice that page count, I could have done a much better job. Of course, if it weren’t for Brian Jepson insisting that I wrap things up by a certain date so that we can go to production, I’d end up years later with a 14,000 page manuscript, still complaining to Brian that I needed just a bit more time and a bit more page count.
Oh, well. It’s finished, and it’s a really good book even if it is only 5% as long as I’d like it to be.