Thought Patterns

The other day I rec'd the link to the typesetter's copy of the book. I finished going through it today and hope to go through it much faster tomorrow. Lorna will be going over it too as well as Sophia.

Most of the changes were little subtle things such as word order. We did a thorough edit but there were still plenty of things to work on. I changed a character's name. I may change another. I changed the directions when I realized I had them going the wrong way. And I added in an acknowledgment that I had missed the first round. I was waiting to get her credentials and totally forgot. Bad author.

It is amazing how errors stand out when in the book format. I am thinking it is mostly because it is a different layout than what I have been staring at for the past two years. It was like seeing it for the first time. And it was like reading an e-book.

I think that once I finish an edit, I am going to change the format and go over it again. I'd like to see if errors pop out like they did with this.

Oy. Take my advice: leave out lyrics from your books. Unless you research it all ahead of time and the scene just would not be the same without it, leave it out.

In BGCFA, there is a scene where Kelly is laying on the floor, working on a door jamb. She's feeling weird being in the customer's house alone so she sings a song. It is during this song that the customer comes home and startles her. The scene is very important and, to me, having her just "sing a ditty" just didn't do it.

At first, Kelly sang "Get Along Little Dogies". You know, "Yippee ti yi yay, get along little dogies/it's your misfortune and none of my own". Anyway, because it would appear in a commercial item (i.e. a published book), I needed permission to print it.

The first place to go is Public Domain Music site.

The second place is the US gov't copyright office.

I did a search for the title at the PD site. Nothing. Not a good sign.

I did a search at the Copyright Office and got me 6 results. Skip the "summary" option and go straight to the "full". The results won't tell you much other than someone has something copyrighted. For a fiction book, that's all you need to know. Go no further, change the scene or song. I did poke around some more though, because my curiosity was up. I found, via Wikipedia, that Tex Ritter's first recording was of "Get Along Little Dogie" and "Sam Hall" way back in 1935. PBS did a show where the song was mentioned and they say the song is from 1868-1874, which is old enough to be public domain. But since so many people own copyrights to adaptations, etc, it wasn't worth the risk.

Then I figured, heck, who would own the copyright to "On Top of Spaghetti"? Right? Wrong. A man by the name of Tom Glazer owned the copyright (now his estate does) and it was first recorded in 1963. The Boy Scouts list the lyrics on their website but don't mention copyright. Again, it was Wikipedia that led me to the right place. "On Top of Spaghetti" was Mr. Glazer's best selling recording.

Okay, now I was getting frustrated. I needed a certain kind of song, you know? So I came up with another: "Barbara Allen". Success at last!

According to Public Domain Music site, it is given the creation date of 1666. The way PD works is they find and make copies of any sheet music that refers to the copyright date. They then sell those copies so that you can have physical proof of the copyright. "Barbara Allen" is available either individually or in a book. I just may order the book later.

Further research at, you guessed it, Wikipedia, gave me some interesting information about this song and folk songs in general. By the way, I love folk songs. "Barbara Allen" was my fave as a kid and it was the second song I learned to play on the guitar.

"Barbara Allen" is an old folk song and was not printed until 1780. The author is unknown and it is believed to be of Ireland or Scotland origin. But the fun began when I learned it is also referred to as "Child Ballad #84". I thought it odd they would consider it a children's ballad. Until I realized it was a man named Child who wrote a huge set of books about folk songs and the songs are referred to as "Child Ballads". These books were five volumes printed in 1882-1898. The Sacred Texts site has almost the entire set of books on-line. I also came across the Folk Music On-line site which will be a great resource. Apparently, Child didn't just list the lyrics. He researched all of them then made a list of 350 basic ones.

At any rate, I had my song. I used the lyrics I found on Wikipedia but changed them to how I knew the words as a kid.

In Scarlet town, where I was born,
There was a fair maid dwellin',
Made every youth cry well-a-day
Her name was Barb'ry Allen.

'Twas in the merry month of May,
The green buds they were swellin',
Young William on his death-bed lay,
For love of Barb'ry Allen.

So, will I ever try to use a song in a book again? Well, yeah. I already have. And I actually have permission from the band to use lyrics from the chorus. But after that? Probably not. Too big a pain in the arse.

Wow. I'm having a book published. I mean, really, me?

The edits for the book are finished. Jane is going over it one more time and making one change I wanted.

Yesterday she sent me a file containing information on how to do the acknowlegements and dedication and other such stuff.

For some reason, filling them in made it seem far too real.

And I had to do a bio. I hate all the other ones I have so I made a new one. It's funny and very appropriate.

The acknowlegements were hard. Including someone is important; leaving someone out is even more so. I had to think of everyone and thing that helped me to write that book. I decided to not mention Forward Motion and NaNoWriMo, mostly because those two would need more information that the spaced allowed. But then, both were very important parts of the book. FM not so much any more and NaNoWriMo only happens once a year (and is not too far away!). Should I mention them? I also didn't mention OpenOffice.org or WordWeb. Both programs make writing such a breeze. And I didn't mention Dell for selling me the laptop. Or Lipton for making such good tea bags.

Perhaps these acknowlegements need to be on the webpage for the book. That way links can be included and explanations given. I can also then include online friends such as Sophia, Irysangel, and Kaitana. I can mention the staff at the Weaverville Waffle House.

The dedication was easy. I've had that one done in my head for a long time.

I didn't have an "epigraph". Never even thought about it. I'll have to come up with something for the others, though.

It was the permission section that gave me a big pain in the patootie. More on that later.

I met my deadline! I did I did!

By 9 minutes but, heck, it's done! Jane has it now. She's got other business to do today and tomorrow then will get started on the last section. So I have a few days off. Whatever shall I do?

1. Play a game?
2. Read a book?
3. Get back to writing?

Would you believe I am leaning toward option #3? Just plum shocking, ain't it?

The debate about 'eighty-five vs '85 rages on.

The Chicago Manual of Style says this about numbers in general:

9.3 Chicago's General Rule. In non technical contexts, the following are spelled out: whole numbers, from one through one hundred, round numbers, and any number beginning with a sentence. For other numbers, numerals are used.

The examples they give are:

Thirty-two children from eleven families were packed into three vans.
The property is held on a ninety-nine-year lease.
The building is three hundred years old.
The three new parking lots will provide space for 540 more cars.
The population of our village now stands at 5,893.

Then later, 9.34 says:

The year abbreviated. In informal contexts the first two digits of a particular year are often replaced by an apostrophe (not an opening single quotation mark).

The examples given then are:

the spirit of '76
the class of '06

One famous writer responded that she would spell the two number year out, using it sparingly in the beginning to get the reader used to it, then using it more further into the book. The reader will then not get thrown out of the book.

Another says that the two number year spelled out just is too awkward for the reader.

Georganna and Sophia shared their thoughts in the comments of my earlier post.

Anyone else want to jump into this discussion?

PS: I just sent the question to what I thought was the Q&A of the CMOS website but realized, just as I hit send, that it was going to the webmaster. Sigh.

My personal deadline of getting BGCFA done (edit wise) is today. I only have about 50 pages to go. Then I send this last section to Jane and I sit back and breathe. For a few hours anyway. Then she will send it back to me with suggestions/corrections. Sigh.

Dead Like Me is on right now and later will be Eureka. After that, Lorna will go to bed and I'll be able to get to work.

We folk in the crip realm have our own language too. Such as, if you are not disabled, you are considered an AB or a TAB (temporarily able-bodied). Personally, I prefer the acronym TAB.

At any rate, got today's CripHumor. It is titled "Ten Things Not to Say to the Able-Bodied". There were several I didn't get the joke of, but it's from OUCH!, a UK thing, so perhaps something was lost in the translation.

Here at Ouch! we know there are plenty of questions you're just dying to ask non-disabled people in order to understand their lives and their limited perspective . But we suggest you hold back in order that you don't just mess with their minds or make them avoid disabled people forever more. And sometimes, you know, you've just got to be kind, think about their feelings. Here's our helpful top ten list of things you should avoid saying to the Able Bodied:

"Would you say you're 'shoe dependent'?"

"The temptation to just keep on running must be almost too hard to resist sometimes?

"When you get ill, how do you know whether to call the doctor or not?"

"So, your pain goes away?"

"Come again? You're depressed about what????"

"When you stare at people with disabilities, what connections are you trying to make in your head?"

"Does not having to pre-book transport make you feel free or nervous?"

"I guess you aren't filled with jealous rage when you see the artistry and magnificence of Wayne Rooney on a soccer ball pitch because deep down you know you could be him if you wanted?

"When you illegally park in a disabled parking spot, is it because you think disabled people don't exist or that you don't exist?"

"If you mention walking, seeing, hearing, socializing, sports or anything to do with the 21st century near a disabled person, do you think they're more likely to cry or sue?"

Got any disability themed top tens for us? Email your suggestions to
ouch@bbc.co.uk and we'll display the best ones!

I LOVE the first one. Shoe dependent, shoe-bound, shoe-confined. heh heh

**

It's been a crazy few days here. I was supposed to go visit Elena in Charlotte Friday but we had a series of horrific thunderstorms here and since both the storms and myself would be heading east, I decided to go Saturday. Then, Friday night into Saturday morning, it rained here. Okay, perhaps poured would be a better word. We got so much rain, we were mentioned on the Weather Channel most of Saturday morning. The weather station just north of me recorded 3.98 inches of rain from midnight to two a.m. And, when I got up at 7 to get going, it was still raining. And again, the storms were heading toward Charlotte.

So now it is around 7:30 and we are getting ready to head out for real today. Current temp is a brisk 61F and no rain in sight.

Elena is loaning me her HF rig again as well as giving me some of her old QST magazines. I've been drooling. I'm taking her my old powerchair so that she can find it a home. She works closely with the local MS chapter and does things like this a lot.

Monday and Tuesday will be Edit Madness. I have to get close to 200 pages edited and turned over to Jane. We don't want to delay this book any. Panic? Me? Heck yeah!