Copy editing and historical happenings

A quick escape from the copy-edited manuscript morass to say Hi. Copy editing is absolutely essential and I have great admiration for those who undertake this challenging task. It takes a laser-like concentration, a good memory, and a high tolerance for boredom since the copy editor does not get to read for the plot or the characters; they have to focus on details, not the big picture. Having said that, there has never been a writer who enjoyed the experience either. Even with a good copy editor, it can be stressful; with a bad one, it can be sheer torture. I am very lucky, for I’ve only had two really bad copy editors in my long career, one who was intent upon rewriting the book for me—not in his job description—and one who was—to put it politely—very anal-retentive. To give you an idea of the flavor of his work, I had written that Richard closed his eyes. He queried, “First establish that his eyes are open?” Unfortunately, this was Sunne, my first book, and therefore my first copy-editing experience, so I suffered in silence for much too long, assuming this sort of insanity was the norm.
Happily, the copy editing for The Land Beyond the Sea really does fall into the normal range. It is still time-consuming, though, and naturally I had to deal with computer sabotage. I was horrified to discover this weekend that Mischief, my current laptop, had deleted all of my responses to CE queries after the fifth chapter. I learned long ago never to waste time trying to figure out why computers do things, but this does seem a bit extreme, no? Anyway, before I disappear again to into the editing swamp, here is a Today in History post for everyone, very late, of course.
On February 1st, 1327, Edward III was crowned King of England; he was only 14 and the government remained in the hands of his mother, Queen Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer. Jumping forward a few centuries, on February 1st, 1587, a conflicted Elizabeth I finally signed the death warrant for her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. And on a much happier, albeit non-medieval, occasion, Abraham Lincoln signed the Thirteenth Amendment on February 1st, 1865 after it had been approved by the House and the Senate, and then sent it to the states for ratification. It would eventually be ratified by the requisite number of states in December of 1865. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States, completing what had begun with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. My British readers can be proud that your parliament abolished slavery thirty years earlier than your cousins in the colonies.