Finally!

I've been wanting to print off the first 50 pages of Part 2 of Symphonians for ages. At first I was like, "Let's not print yet, let's do as much as we can on the computer only." But then I hit this wall. In my mind, the scenes involving Carter all glommed together and everything ran together, and everything seemed like the same old damned thing, over and over and over.

Okay, so it was time to print. Except ....

Our computer that's hooked up to the printer at home freezes up every time I open MS Word. So I can't print off here. So I take the flash drive to the library to print it off there.

The first time, there are no computers available.

The second time, all I had was a $20 and the machine wouldn't accept it and the librarians had no change. Then before I could run to the post office to get change, the machines shut down because it was 15 minutes before closing time.

The third time, the computers were all full.

The fourth time, I got change. But I was 30 cents short. So I had to run and get it. And when I got back, the change machine had spit out my $5, all in quarters, so I had to redeposit all the quarters. Then it wouldn't accept my 30 cents. So I had to Cntr X several pages, print off the first part, then Cntr V those pages into a new document, and print those.

But the dang thing was printed. Hallelujah. I have GOT to get a job so we can get a printer that hooks up to my laptop.

Anyway, tonight my family went to sleep early, so I spread all 53 pages on the floor and walked about and made notes on overall structure.

I set them out by chapter, since I didn't have floor space for 53 pages all together. Chapter 16 turned out to have 25 pages. Chapter 17 had 16 pages, and Chapter 18 had 11 pages.

It was nice to see everything laid out so neatly on the floor. I could see how many pages each scene got. I could see more clearly the overall impetus of each chapter (if it had one). I could see if a block of pages had lost focus. Or a chapter, for that matter.

I found out that Chapter 16 was pretty strong. Chapter 17 sucked. Chapter 18 went by way too fast, since Kay sees Noel again, and that is rather significant. Yet only three pages out of 11 was devoted to that scene. Hm, more work.

So I feel better now that I have an idea of what needs work and what's in pretty good shape. So that was worth the hassle. Or anyway that's what I keep telling myself!

Music: "Baby Let Your Light Shine Down" by Collective Soul