Paksworld

This morning I was goofing off by starting book three,  which meant I needed to check a few things from one and two.

It’s a fairly minor plot point (so far) so I don’t think it’s hugely spoilerish to reveal a little.    Some of Our Folks are in Aarenis, on a contract with Cortes Vonja to deal with brigands.  Standard, ordinary, until they find some swords.  One of the swords is a  Halveric sword, which is odd because the Halverics were careful to recover the arms of their wounded and dead.

Arcolin recognized the initials  on it–it’s a family sword, and that can only be Caliam Halveric’s, taken when he was captured.   He decides to take it back to the north and restore it to the Halverics (Halveric Company isn’t in Aarenis this season.)   And some other stuff.   And this and that happen, and when I wrote about his return to the north (in book two) I completely forgot to mention the sword or what happened to it.  DUH.    It takes a rather roundabout route, for plot-significant reasons, but clearly something like that needs closure.   Which, by the time you see it, it will have.

(writer jots down ” Halveric Sword,  FIX!!!” on 3×5 card which then lands on top of the piles of other notes on the desk.)

Another lapse is one of those situations where I know where someone was, and the reader needs to, but I didn’t mention it.    Was in a hurry.  Umph.

This is why it’s not over when it’s over.    Not only has the fat lady not sung, she’s offstage changing into another costume, the tenor and the baritone are preparing to enter up left and down after the men’s chorus (which is having its helmets straightened and its spears checked by whoever does that),  and the children’s chorus is still playing leapfrog on the stage while singing something in high little voices before fleeing from the men’s chorus singing something martial, before the tenor and the baritone come out and wrangle musically, and then (finally) the fat lady sings.  (This is not intended to diss opera, let alone any particular opera.  I made it all up.)

Anyway.   The copy edits on Oath of Fealty aren’t back to my editor yet, (were supposed to be to my editor last Friday, after a previous delay) so they’re not here yet, and I’m looking at the days left (they want it back by July 10…) and biting my nails.   The delay means the copy editor’s having problems with it, which means there are likely to be problems when I get the copy edits…and just to add to the fun, my editor’s going on jury duty tomorrow.

So  working on book two or book three is a good way to not fret about what the copy editor might have done.  Maybe I got the wonder-of-wonders copy editor this time and he/she is simply unable to let go of a story he/she admires so much.  (Not likely but I can hope.)