After The Proof Is Done: Playing Catch Up

First-Pass-Proof manuscript

One thing about spending a few weeks locked into a major part of the book-writing cycle, like doing the final proof of the manuscript, is that a lot of other stuff falls by the wayside in the meantime.

Although—brief digression ensues—I realised as soon as I said “final proof” that actually it’s called the “first-pass-proof.” That’s because although it’s the final time the author gets to see the manuscript before it’s a book, it’s only the first proofing round for...