My galleys arrived yesterday for Edge of Dawn. This is a test copy of the book to make sure there weren't any mistakes as the story was setup to be printed. It's the last step I'm involved with before Edge of Dawn becomes a real bound book and it's my final chance to make any changes before the book goes to press.
I both like and dislike galleys. I like them because I want to catch any errors--either mine or the printer's--before it goes to press. I'm a perfectionist and nothing makes me crazier than mistakes.
I dislike them because I'm a perfectionist and I want to keep fixing and fixing and that's not possible at the galley stage. Every change that isn't a printer error costs money and so I can't change everything I might want to change. I have to pick which ones are most important to me and live with the rest.
The other problem with galleys is reading them. I get caught up in the story and forget that I'm supposed to be proofreading, not visiting with my hero and heroine. And because I'm so familiar with the story, I'll mentally see words that are missing or eliminate words that shouldn't be there. That's why I enlisted my mom a few books ago to read the page proofs, too. This is the first time she's seen the story so she'll notice if things are missing and/or added.
Today, I began reading through the galleys and I've already gotten lost a few times in Logan and Shona's story. I really like these two and they're both so much easier than the characters in the book I'm writing now. It's Kel's book (Logan's brother--you'll meet him in Edge of Dawn if you read it) and he's had a rough stretch in his life and his heroine has as well. Logan and Shona? Well, you know I always torture my characters, but neither one of them has any really heavy baggage and their story was such a nice break for me between Creed's book (In Twilight's Shadow) and Kel's book (still officially untitled) that I'm enjoying rereading it.
Anyway, must get back to galleys. I am hugely busy with a short story and a book both due on March 1st. I need to finish this latest job and get it out the door.
