SOL Tuesday: Busy, busy, busy

            This week and next week are my busiest weeks of the year. I’m a free-lance copy editor, working primarily for my former employer, Publishers Weekly magazine. Next week is the publishing and bookselling industries’ trade show, now called BookExpo, followed by a new consumer/readers’ show called BookCon, and PW does a daily publication called Show Daily each of the four days of the two conventions. Each is full of advertising, and the printer needs lots of pages in advance, called the preprint, and that’s what we’re working on this week.

            For the past month I’ve been copy editing dozens of stories at home. This week I, and the two editors, get to read the page proofs, at least twice, after our art director does layouts and prints pages.

            So today, I arrived at the office (this work can’t really be done long distance) around 11, bringing my breakfast with me. Spent the next eight hours reading pages, answering copy editing questions, kibbitzing with my editors, recommending a movie to the fiction reviews editor, snacked on the Girl Scout cookies brought by the Show Daily editor, chatted baseball with the publisher (he’s a Yankees fan, I’m a Mets fan).

            When I got home at 8, I ate my takeout soup while watching the Mets lose, read some more page proofs and made corrections. E-mailed the nonfiction reviews editors that I would be late working on their files. Washed the dishes. Finally got a chance to balance my checkbook. Did my daily crossword puzzle. Packed up my backpack for tomorrow—when it will be a repeat of the above.

SOLSC: Busy busy busy busy busy

            Today was full of activity.

            Morning, start cleaning up the living room since writers’ group is coming this evening.

            Noon, dentist visit downtown.

            Shop for food, since I usually make a protein of some sort. Today I plan to make a miso-ginger chicken salad. I did buy the rotisserie chicken yesterday, so today I just need the white miso and some vegetables. There’s an Asian food market (and a second one opened up recently) in my neighborhood, but I had to ask for the white miso, since I didn’t even know what section to find it in.

            Back home, I have to call the bookkeeper for my physical therapy place; they sent me a

bill for several visits back to 2013, and I spent a couple of hours over the weekend researching my canceled checks so I’d be prepared to prove that I’ve paid for all but one of the visits. But once I reach the proper person, she doesn’t even know about all the earlier “charges,” and says all I have to pay is the Medicare deductible for this year. I am so annoyed at having wasted all that time, as well as the energy anticipating what I’d thought would be an argumentative phone call.

            Next, a couple of hours of free-lance copy editing work that has to be done today.

            For the chicken salad, I have to make the dressing, which takes half an hour, partly because I thought I could mix it up in the small food processor, and it turned out it needs the big one. Then I have to shred the chicken off its carcass, which takes much longer than I expected, an hour. Pulling it all together takes another 15 minutes.

            Back to the living room to finish cleaning up, which mostly involves piling all the papers together and putting them in my bedroom. Cheating, I know, but I’m running out of time.

            Finally, I print out the three pieces the writers have sent for our perusal this session. Fortunately, everyone is late so I have time to read two very good short stories, and a series of e-mail comments on a film script we discussed last month.

            And the first person arrives...

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I’m participating in the 11th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 14 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!

SOL Tuesday: Busy, Busy, Busy...

Every spring I work on a freelance project for the magazine I used to work for full-time. That work started up a couple of weeks ago, and today it’s really heating up. Now it’s getting a bit hard to fit in the work in between the rest of my life. So today...

            First, going to the gym.

            Second, home for lunch.

            Third, spending an hour helping one of the editors on this project get up to speed on the technology we will be using. But there’s a hitch, and I had to e-mail people at the magazine for help.

            Fourth, another hour using that technology myself.

            Fifth, I take a few hours off to see a Bulgarian movie, Glory, which was worth seeing, but very depressing.

            Sixth, dinner out at a local restaurant, an excellent roast cod with stewed vegetables, and a glass of wine.

            Seventh, home to continue work on that project, in between doing my laundry.

            Eighth, writing this slice.

            Ninth, time for bed.