Reflection 12

I finally finished that crazy chapter's endnotes! I was so excited to get it done yesterday; it took nearly the entire time I was there. As frustrating as it was, I realized I really did learn a lot going through this chapter. Though I complained, I really think I would have been let down to be given a really easy book to work with. I like knowing that I've made useful, necessary changes on a book. That's one of the things I like about editing, seeing the results, so if I had a project that really didn't need much work, I wouldn't enjoy it as much. I also got even more practice with queries to the author because this chapter's queries were so complex. The author had many endnotes with similar problems as well as random issues throughout. I had to come up with a way to organize the queries so I could ask him twenty questions without overwhelming him by making it look like twenty questions. For example, he consistently cited material from the WVRHC in correctly and also use FF after page numbers frequently. I wasn't sure if FF was meant to be ff (which means "and the following pages") or if it was fine and just something I hadn't heard of. To deal with this I used the first query for his chapter to say "I have some questions that apply to many endnotes, so I grouped them together here." Then I wrote a paragraph explaining my confusion with FF and listed the places it occurred. I wrote a second paragraph explaining the issues with the WVRHC and listed all the problematic endnotes. After those two, I went back to regular queries for the basic questions. Now it looks like I'm only asking him about eight questions instead of twenty. He'll still have to answer all of them, but since I've grouped them and made it easier, hopefully he'll have an easier time and feel good about it.

I used to feel a little bad about sending a bunch of questions to the author, especially because sometimes I have to just say, "Why did you put this phrase in the note?" when I don't think something belongs. I need to ask why, because if they have a good reason, it could just be out of place or something I don't understand. I just feel rude doing it sometimes. Lately, thought I've realized that it's better for me to ask them than a colleague of theirs when the book comes out. I'm working for the author and I'm trying to make the book as good as possible, so I don't feel as questioning their style. I also have to think of the reader. If I'm confused reading or using and endnote, someone else probably will be too. I have to make it easy for the reader to get information, and I think I'm doing that when I clean up the endnotes.