Snip Snip

No coffee, no music. Heck, not even any light. I can hear the cat rumbling beside me on the couch, but I can't see her. I have been up copy editing the copy edits for the book for the past hour. Dave's car alarm went off at 3:30 and neither of us could get back to sleep so we gave in and got up. Now we sit companionably in our robes in the livingroom, each with our laptops, the only light the glow from the screens. If I weren't so stressed about finishing all this editing I would bask in romantic contentment. As it is, the book is now deemed *seven* pages over (who the hell does the math on these things and why can't they get it right?!) and I am playing snip snip. Checking for stress with polarized filters? Snip. Mini-kilns for vitrigraph? Snip. How to test your new kiln for hot spots and optimal process temperatures? SNIP!

When I first started this project the senior editor told me 400-500 words per page. 144 pages. She also said photos on every page. Here seems to be the rub: the 400-500 words on a page DOES NOT take into account the space needed for the photos! They know they want photos, they know how much room the photos take up, why can't they give a real count for the words WITH the photos? They gave me a little spreadsheet and asked me to plug in my word totals as I went. I did. And I plugged in photos. At my last check I was four pages under. But they insist I am seven pages over, snip, snip. I am appalled at the incompetence (they use the same spreadsheet for every book--it's not like I am the first to run into this problem) glaringly highlighted by the inaccuracy of the spreadsheet! But fuming gets me nowhere. Back I go to snip snipping.

P.S. (from 8:30 am): The car alarm on Dave's car went off at 3:30 am because someone stole his gps... again. At leaset they used a coat hanger or something non-damaging to get in and didn't just break the window. There was no damage to the car.