Laelaps is the blog of freelance science writer 
Blogging might be a little light here over the next few days. I have only one week left to tune-up the initial draft of Written in Stone before sending it off to my editor for comments, so the pressure is on. The entire manuscript will be finished by the end of January (and then it will be time to finish those papers I have been working on and the proposal for book #2).
Photos of the day and little tidbits will pop up now and then, but every time I get the compulsion to write a new essay I am going to turn that energy to editing Written in Stone instead. Posts at Dinosaur Tracking will continue to appear regularly during the week. Thank you for your patience.
Comments
Good luck! I enjoy your writing and Written in Stone sounds like it's going to be solid. Looking forward to it!
Posted by: Davor | December 7, 2009 9:16 AM
Good luck, Brian. IMHO writing a first draft is a joyous experience that makes up for the agony of writing the proposal. I have just sent a book proposal to my agent. It took months (years, actually) and many, many drafts to reach the present 18,000-word document. I expect there'll be several more before she sends it to potential publishers. But as one very seasoned pop-science writer said to me recently - get the proposal right, and the book should be a doddle.
Converserly, the proposal has to be watertight, because a small lapse of logic in the proposal will become a yawning chasm in the draft. Phew. Why do we put ourselves through this?
Posted by: cromercrox | December 7, 2009 12:04 PM
Thanks, Davor! I hope you like it.
And congrats on getting the proposal in, cromercrox! I will look forward to hearing more details about your new book as they become available.
I daresay that my proposal could have used a little more fine-tuning, but the whole Ida affair blew up right when I started working with my agent. We wanted to use that situation to our advantage so I had to hurry. Summarizing chapters that had not even been written yet was probably the most agonizing part. (Since the introduction is a bit like a modified proposal it has also proven to be the most difficult section to write, but after a few false starts I think I have it figured out.)
Writing the book has been both a pleasure and a trial. I have a rather loud inner critic who constantly nags me about making sure my arguments are well-supported and that I don't leave anything important out. This can be useful in moderation, but some days it can be more of a hindrance than a help. I know that my book is not going to be flawless, but I want to make sure that it is as accurate as I can possibly make it. My concern on this point was deepened by some of the responses of academic reviewers/editors to my proposal; many of them liked my writing just fine but expressed their doubts about my ability to handle my chosen topic due to the lack of letters after my name.
The time pressure does not help these worries, but I am also glad that the project is not open-ended. If I had all the time that I wanted the book would probably never be finished. There would always be one more study or bit of evidence to add. Since I know I will never be entirely satisfied it is better to provide myself with a cutoff point and put in my best effort. And now, back to writing...
Posted by: Laelaps | December 7, 2009 12:47 PM