At 5:06 pm today I pressed the SEND button on my computer. My manuscript is complete!!! But that was only after I checked off my edit "to do" list. Firstly, I found four people to proofread the manuscript, two authors and two family members. Then I went into editing overdrive. I crossed every t, I dotted every i. I corrected every type o. I cut big paragraphs into two or three little ones. I added a couple of chapters. I took a chapter away. I added British accents. I took British accents away. I changed a chapter title. I shared more of the protagonist's thoughts. I took away any thoughts coming from characters other than the protagonist. I added more setting. I checked and double-checked historical facts. I looked up definitions of words like "plimsolle" (a canvas shoe with a rubber sole) and "humbug" (a type of hard candy with stripes). I eliminated words that did not fit into the late Victorian/early Edwardian period.
I gave myself a Canadian geography lesson circa 1903 and found out that "Ungava" and "Keewatin" were territories. I discovered that telephone operators had stressful jobs: their job description included everything from connecting a long distance call to giving out weather reports and election results. I learned that the British term Cockney, referring to a Londoner living within hearing distance of the Bow Bells, comes from the words "cock" and "neigh", the latter being the sound that it makes. I discovered that my great-great grandparents' street in Bracebridge, was named after a Temperance preaching newspaper owner named Thomas McMurray. I learned that people didn't have curling irons back in 1949; they used curlers or rags instead. What an amazing experience it has been! I'd like to do it all over again!
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