After weeks of not sleeping, I took a pill last night that made me sleep deeply, all night long. It’s not something I can do regularly — the drug is not addictive, but it has dreadful side-effects like weight gain and the potential for tardive dyskinesia — but getting one good night of sleep is enough, for now. Happy Friday, y’all. I hope it’s as peaceful and lovely where you are as it is at my desk.

Here’s a different piece by Arvo Pärt, also perfect for a rainy day:

Today I’m very grateful that I work at home, that I can work at home, that I have enough (but not more) work to make it possible for me to do this. Going down into steaming summer subways isn’t much fun anyway, but with a cold it just feels way too wrong, universe. Way wrong. Instead, I get to sit on the couch, read an interesting manuscript and try to make it even better, drink tea, adjust the air conditioning to meet my changing hot-cold status, wear comfortable clothes (and not wear uncomfortable clothes), moan a bit, and nap if it strikes me. That’s a big thing to be grateful for, so I pause here and say that.

Achoo.

*ring ring*

me: Hello, this is Lori.

her: Um, yeah. I saw you on my computer. [long silence]

me: Yes? Can I help you?

her: Um, yeah. You’re an editor. [long silence]

me: [trying to manage my irritation and corresponding rise in blood pressure] Yes I am. Can I help you?

her: Um, yeah. I need an editor. What do you charge. [long silence]

me: [trying with a little less success to manage my irritation] Well, if you’re looking at my website, you’ll see the page titled RATES.

her: [silence]

me: So as you’ll see

her: [interrupting] Yeah. What do you charge.

me: Well [deep breath], as you see, it depends on what kind of editing you want. There are different types of editing.

her: [silence]

me: Why don’t we start this way – why don’t you tell me a little bit about your project.

her: Um, yeah. It’s a book.

me: [fighting mightily against a growing tide of wanting to kill her] A book? Is it a novel?

her: Um, yeah.

…..I described the types of editing and we somehow agree she needs {surprise!} the deepest level of editing. I give her a quote…..

her: Um, yeah. Will you sign something about giving me the copyright?

me: Well, that’s not necessary, but I’ll sign something if you want me to.

her: Um, yeah. See, I don’t live up there, you feel me?

me: Not really, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll sign something if you want me to.

her: Um, yeah. So I’ll give you my address and you’ll mail me stuff.

me: No, you email your manuscript to me

BANGING MY HEAD ON MY DESK. This went on for several minutes. Am I holding my breath? Um, no.

ANYWAY. Remember how the little women are always reading (or being exhorted to read, by their mother) Pilgrim’s Progress? I’ve never read it, but somehow I know of the Slough of Despond and sisters, I’m in it. I’m in it up to my waist. Just personal stuff going on, not for public blog consumption, and no one’s dying or anything so in the scheme of things it’s surmountable, but the Slough is sucking me down.

I’ll probably be quiet for a few days — sure I’ll be back.

***

p.s. #1 If, like me, you never said Slough of Despond out loud because you didn’t know how to pronounce it, it’s slough like through — slew.

p.s.#2 And many thanks to Jess for commenting on my political post to let me know that the Republicans have decided to remove the word “forcible” from their definition of rape. Yay, thank heavens for that small favor. Kristen Schaal said on The Daily Show Wednesday night, “You’d be surprised how many drugged, underaged or mentally handicapped young women have been gaming the system. Sorry, ladies the free abortion ride is over.” Guess she’ll get to eat her sadly funny words.

About being an editor. When I was in graduate school, when people asked about my research I learned to be cautious in describing it. I studied what we can know by analyzing the words people use. As with most things academe, it was much more interesting in concept than in detail — people who are depressed use the pronoun ‘I’ more frequently than non-depressed people (but then again so do women, and coincidentally women are more likely to report being depressed than men). There are pronoun differences as a function of power status, a particular linguistic profile associated with cognitive complexity, more complicated pronoun differences associated with psychological and emotional change, etc. Really interesting stuff! But when I’d answer someone’s question about my research, they’d often grow quieter and quieter, and they’d frequently say that they no longer felt all that comfortable talking to me because I’d know stuff about them. (Note: you can either listen to someone, or count their pronouns. You can’t do both simultaneously. And you can’t really count their pronouns just listening to them, either. So it’s definitely not a problem…)

Even though I’m not a clinical psychologist, people who don’t understand the different types of psychologists sometimes say that they are afraid I’m analyzing them. I may be, but just in the same casual way you are! I suspect people who are clinical psychologists get this all the time. I’ll bet they also get people telling them their problems, hoping for free on-the-spot therapy.

And now that I’m an editor, people are often quite self-conscious with me about their writing. This one’s a little more complicated than the previous issues, because it’s always been true of me that I notice typos and incorrect grammar in everything I read. Chicken and egg, man. Still, there’s a big difference between noticing and judging, and this makes all the difference. When I read my friends’ writing, whether in an email or a blog post or any other format, I assume my mind registers any typos, but I don’t tend to really notice them because I’m not reading with editing in mind. And I definitely don’t judge them! The only time I do get judgmental and irritated is when there are a lot of errors in a published work. That’s bad form, publishers and authors. Well, one more: THE “INCORRECT” USE OF “QUOTATION MARKS” AND APOSTROPHE’S. (incorrect there for emphasis, as if the all-caps weren’t enough.)

The other side of this sword is that now, if I make a typo or use incorrect grammar, it has dire implications. If a potential client emails me, my email had better not have a single typo, or I’ve lost the job. I live and die by the same sword, not to be all violent about it.

Anyway, my work isn’t typically about spotting typos and incorrect grammar. That’s just proofreading. An editor does deeper work than that, expanding and eliminating, rearranging, making sense and better order, reworking paragraphs and sentences to make the author’s voice clearer and the story oh so much better. You kind of have to hold the whole thing in your mind at once. It’s great great fun, like solving a 3-dimensional puzzle that’s also a 4-dimensional Rubik’s cube. Trust me, that’s fun.

A photo that captures my weekend, therefore, would have to be me at my computer. BO-ring. So instead, here’s a shot of Texas caviar, the cold black-eyed pea salad I eat every New Year’s Day. It’s a southern tradition to eat black-eyed peas for luck, but guess what? It’s actually an ancient Jewish tradition. The Talmud recommends eating them at Rosh Hashana for prosperity in the coming year. Many Jews moved to Georgia in the 1700s, so of course that tradition came with them. Southerners recognized a good thing when they saw it, and adapted it to their New Year celebration (and adding the obviously un-Kosher ham hock, but that’s what makes it so good!).

So with no further blathering: Texas caviar. It’s damn good – meaty and spicy and limey and jalapeno-ey.

eaten with tortilla chips, so good it'll make you slap your mama

So in keeping with the old adage, since I don’t have anything nice to say, I won’t say anything at all. But in the celluloid words of the recent governor of California, I’ll be back. Just as soon as I get this work done……..

This work is of the type that causes (and requires) complete immersion. If I were just doing proofreading, I could pick it up and put it down. But I have to hold the whole novel in my mind, see redundancies, sections that would better fit elsewhere in the novel, gaps, inconsistencies, etc. Plus, I get in a kind of flow with it; I’ll open the file and start editing, and the next thing I know it’s 8 hours later and I haven’t stopped to pee or eat or anything. Poof! Eight hours have passed.

I’m also teaching stats, and let’s be honest. None of the students love stats the way I do. They’re required to take it, some are very smart but some are incredibly stupid. That’s right, I said it. Some are mushy-minded people who seem to have been failed by the educational system. But anyway – also teaching stats. And also needing to do 6 research projects for the publishing house I worked for.

So when’s a girl to knit? I also worry about all the hours doing very finely-focused computer work (on a laptop with a cramped keyboard) and getting carpal tunnel. That would be just horrible. At the end of these very long days, I still need to eat dinner and straighten up, and the day is done. Last week I didn’t sleep one minute Tuesday night (thank you stupid waitress who clearly gave me full-caf instead of decaf, even though I emphasized and asked again twice before drinking it), and Thursday night I slept 2 hours.

So here is the current state of my WIPs:

there it is.

First up, the one that’s been sitting in my bag the longest: Mondo Cable Cardigan, with madelinetosh merino, in Graphite.

near the end of sleeve 1, body finished.

look at the beauty of the yarn

I realized some of my skeins were a drastically different color – blue black instead of charcoal gray – and it put a hitch in my gitalong. Thanks to ravelers, I was able to score a couple of skeins that matched better, but I’ve never recovered my mojo on this one. But it really is beautiful, and softer than a baby angel fairy’s bottom.

coming along - but not too quickly. FUN pattern to knit!

This is blanket-sized: It’s the Totally Autumn pattern by Anne Hanson, and it’s such fun to knit! The pattern is cool, and it remains so engaging as I work on it. The Cascade 220 is hard, though, and my index fingers starts to feel raw after a while, as the yarn runs over it. It’s never as hard as I remember it, so whenever I do pick it up to work on it, I’m always surprised. Still, I’ve got a long way to go on that one.

Peasy - after I finish the current ball, I'll be ready to do the collar and button band!! WOO-HOO!!

Peasy, of course, though I couldn’t photograph the color accurately today, for some reason. You’ve seen it so many times on my blog, so you know the color is a rich avocado. I’m getting there, and cannot wait to wear it at Rhinebeck. One good thing that’s come about as a result of this sweater: I don’t hate the purl row as much as I used to. The collar and button band are simple, and not very wide, so I really am getting near the end with this one. Just one more ball of Rowan Felted Tweed.

this one is suffering from no commute time

The Sockhead Hat, in a Regia yarn that I’m not all that crazy about but it was a gift so I love it for that reason. This one stays in my project bag in my purse, and whenever I’m in the subway I feverishly work as much as I can, but I’m only in the subway once a week now.

I don't know; I'm not feeling it. The yarn is just so special - may just frog this.

This snowflake hat pattern is fun to work, and of course the yarn nearly makes me cry, it’s so soft and lofty and such gorgeous colors too. I suspect I really want something different for the yarn, something I might wear against my skin – a little shawl or something, to wrap near my neck. I do suspect I’ll frog this.

close to the toe on sock #1

And my socks, out of Tosh Sport (colorway tweed – this photograph does capture the color pretty well, which I think should be called bronze. But they didn’t ask me.)

the beginnings of bag #1

And a new project I cast on yesterday – the Monteagle bag, using the Louet Euroflax yarn string yarn I recently got from Paradise Fibers. I’ll be making two of these, if I can tolerate it. The linen is kind of hard to work with, especially with these tricky stitches (the next one of which I cannot begin to figure out: “*Knit into the back of the second stitch with a double wrap, but do not transfer to the right needle; knit the first and second stitches together through the back loops with a double wrap and transfer both stitches to the right needle; repeat from * around on each following pair of stitches.”) WHA??? And the linen wants to be straight and hard and pop off the needle mid-stitch.

For now, though, many other less-pleasant tasks are calling my name. Shut up you less-pleasant tasks! I’d rather be knitting.

But I could use your help! If you are on Twitter or facebook, and if you don’t mind doing this, could you tweet it (or facebook it, or stumble it, there are lots of social networking options at the bottom of the article). Here’s a link to the book review: “The Skinny on Willpower”. If you scroll down to the end of the article, there’s a button to tweet the piece, and then the other options too.

Caveats: I know I am making much of a book review. But it’s the first piece of writing I’ve done that I was paid for (and paid pretty well!), and I hope it helps me get other writing gigs. Also, I have no idea if a little viral social networking will help me, but I do know it can’t hurt me! If you are one of the ones who loves me, could you also ask your friends and loved ones to do it too?

Thanks, my friends. I really mean that. And very shortly we will return to knitting content. Since – after all, according to the masthead – this site is about life with needles and thread.

“In my empirical study of recent job changers, I found, in fact, that if weak ties are defined by infrequent contact around the time when information about a new job was obtained, then professional, technical, and managerial workers were more likely to hear about new jobs through weak ties (27.8 percent) than through strong ones (16.7 percent), with a majority in between (55.6 percent).”
-Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties,” 1974

So in the same spirit, and with a bit of happy experience under my belt, I do the same thing here. One of my friends who comments here, and who I met through Ravelry (hi again Kelly!), has already helped me. I just finished an editorial assignment that I got from an agent Kelly connected me with. And in the true spirit of weak connections, it wasn’t actually an assignment from the agent, but rather from a friend of hers who happened to mention that she was writing a book proposal. (thank you Kelly!)

Oh, the strength of weak ties. What good is this social networking thing, if we don’t put things out there? If we don’t occasionally shake the ropes and see how far out they ripple?

So here’s what I do, and if you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who needs me, please think of me! Having been an acquiring editor for a major publisher, I know what publishers need and want, and can provide invaluable assistance to authors who are preparing proposals, or who have written manuscripts. I wear my acq ed hat, and I also wear my in-depth editor’s cap, which allows me to see the book that may be buried in a not-quite-there manuscript.

I also have a strong background in market research; you know the Harris Poll? Yeah, I worked for them and used my background in survey design as a social psychologist, along with my research and analytical skills. Most recently I used those skills to help publishers do research around new online products. But whatever! I know how to craft questions to get real answers, and I know how to program surveys and prepare the results.

Up there at the top of my site, just under the masthead, is a new tab labeled Hire me! See it? It goes to my professional site. And while I am shy about this, there’s a page in my professional site that includes comments from my authors. They were awfully nice.

Even though I have a particular grace and skill at just being myself and being charming, no one has paid me to do that just yet. So I’m in the market for work, doncha know, and if you know someone (who knows someone who knows someone…..), please think of me! I’d do the same for you, I promise.

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