Return of the Guardian-King...

... is officially done.

Er... I hope. I think. I had a lot of changes. Deletions, replacements, additions... This morning I had one transition I actually had to write from scratch and not get all freaked out about the time running out. I did it and finished at 11:45 am, then brought the galleys to the UPS store at 12:10... So it's out of my hands now, though my editor said we only have three pages of wiggle room in terms of getting everything to fit in what they've set up. So if I exceed that.... Well, I have no idea what happens then. It will be "scary," she said.

But I will NOT worry about that now. I know the Lord was in this thing every step of the way. I don't know exactly what I've turned out, but I know it's what He intended. Anyway, after all the gazillions of times He's come through on this book, day after day, I know He can handle the matter of the three pages.

Pray the editors and typesetting people will be able to deal with all the changes error free because the way I understand it, there won't be any more proofreading. Or only one if there is...

I decided as I was running through these galleys that I was really working through the manuscript at what should have been called the "final draft" stage, and that when I was working through what we called the final draft that should really have been called the "first draft," and that thing we called the first draft was really "the pile of dreck you wouldn't show your dog" stage. I had a LOT of changes on these galleys. More than I've ever had on any manuscript, which I became especially aware of when I started getting carpal tunnel symptoms a few nights ago (and then what seemed like tendonitis, also in the wrist) from changing my penciled in corrections to permanent red ink -- but again, the Lord came through and even though a couple of nights my arm and wrist ached and throbbed as I was trying to go to sleep, every morning all was working fine again. So thanks to all of you who were praying for me. I really appreciate it and saw its effects time and again.

When I first read through the galleys I was overwhelmed by the number of things I found just flat out wrong with the manuscript and other things that needed fixing because they just didn't work. I feel a lot better about it now, happy with a lot of the changes that I made. You always wonder if what you've done has really made it better, because it's so hard to see clearly. I think most of the changes, though, were a definite improvement. I was able to clarify some things, to work some still murky concepts out, jettison others that didn't belong and, I think -- I hope -- tie some of the scenes and developments together much better.

So I'm done. I'm thrilled to be done. Thrilled and amazed to have finished my fifth book! Thrilled to be able to get back to normal life again.

Speaking of, it's time to go eat dinner, then watch last week's Smallville and this week's 24. Yeeee-HAW!!!! I really am DONE this time!

Karen