Shannon Reed's Blog
March 2, 2020
Second Manuscript Pass
When I first began teaching high school English, I realized that my grasp of grammar was not nearly as good as it ought to have been. I had a good instinctive understanding for grammar but didn't really understand the rules, and I was a terrible proofreaders. Today, over 16 years from the first moment I had to explain the present perfect tense to a room full of teenagers, I still struggle to get it right. I *know* what it looks like when it's used correctly, just like I know whether to use its or it's in this sentence... but I am not able to explain why, much of the time.
I've been thinking about this blind spot this weekend because I went through the second pass of my manuscript -- there's only one more chance to look at it before it goes to press. I trust my editor and copyeditor, but yet I can't help but worry that there will be some horrific, glaring grammatical error I didn't catch, or that I've failed to catch a typo that will sink the whole book.
These are the panic dreams of former high school English teachers, apparently!
I've been thinking about this blind spot this weekend because I went through the second pass of my manuscript -- there's only one more chance to look at it before it goes to press. I trust my editor and copyeditor, but yet I can't help but worry that there will be some horrific, glaring grammatical error I didn't catch, or that I've failed to catch a typo that will sink the whole book.
These are the panic dreams of former high school English teachers, apparently!
February 12, 2020
Galleys for WDIGaB are Here!
The journey of a book from an idea to a proposal to a manuscript to a galley to a - huzzah! - book is a long and complex one. It's a journey mostly hidden from the public, too, although these days, readers are much more savvy about how a book comes to be than before. Yet another benefit of the internet, which has given us so very much already!
When I worked at a small publishing company in the early aughts, the entire process was new to me, as were roles of all the people involved. Learning what editors, copyeditors, publicists, marketers, booksellers and so on do was so interesting... and I'm finding that now, 20 or so years later, it's quite helpful to have some understanding of which stage my book is in. Right now, we're in the galley stage, which is an exciting one because the book, in imperfect, not-finalized, still-getting-worked-over form, is finally getting into the hands of readers! Finally, people who aren't obliged by their jobs to do so are reading my book! It's pretty exciting, especially since none of it was read by my friends or family before I submitted it, except, of course, for those sections that were published in The New Yorker or McSweeney's already.
This book is truly a love letter to teachers and teaching, so it's really wonderful that they're starting to get their hands on it. It's the teacher community's approval I most crave for this work. I find myself thinking, "God, I hope people like it!" at random times throughout the day, like a riff on the opening number from A Chorus Line. Hey, if you're one of those people out there reading a galley, and you do like it, let this first-time book writer know, please? :)
Why Did I Get a B?: And Other Mysteries We're Discussing in the Faculty Lounge
When I worked at a small publishing company in the early aughts, the entire process was new to me, as were roles of all the people involved. Learning what editors, copyeditors, publicists, marketers, booksellers and so on do was so interesting... and I'm finding that now, 20 or so years later, it's quite helpful to have some understanding of which stage my book is in. Right now, we're in the galley stage, which is an exciting one because the book, in imperfect, not-finalized, still-getting-worked-over form, is finally getting into the hands of readers! Finally, people who aren't obliged by their jobs to do so are reading my book! It's pretty exciting, especially since none of it was read by my friends or family before I submitted it, except, of course, for those sections that were published in The New Yorker or McSweeney's already.
This book is truly a love letter to teachers and teaching, so it's really wonderful that they're starting to get their hands on it. It's the teacher community's approval I most crave for this work. I find myself thinking, "God, I hope people like it!" at random times throughout the day, like a riff on the opening number from A Chorus Line. Hey, if you're one of those people out there reading a galley, and you do like it, let this first-time book writer know, please? :)
Why Did I Get a B?: And Other Mysteries We're Discussing in the Faculty Lounge
