The End: More Than Just Two Words

By Linda Rosen

“The End,” the two treasured words authors adore typing. But is it really the end? It might be several months since you began your manuscript or, if you’re like me, several years. You’ve workshopped the story in a critique group, chapter by chapter, had a writing partner sitting shotgun along the way, or beta readers who’ve given you wonderful feedback helping make your story even better. Maybe you worked with a developmental editor or writing coach. Whatever you’ve done, it’s been a long journey and finally you feel it’s ready. Ready for those two words. When I get to that point, I sit at my computer, my fingers hovering over the keys ready to strike the “T” and the “H” and so on. My pulse kicks up a notch. I take a moment and question myself one more time. Is the story really finished? Do I need another paragraph? Chapter? Epilogue? No, it’s done. So I hit the keys. Those two words appear and I sit back. A huge sigh escapes my lips.

 I embrace the moment. It’s quite an accomplishment. I’ve taken twenty-six letters and created words, wove them into sentences and phrases that, hopefully, will grab a reader’s heart, and now the manuscript is ready for my editor. But wait – I have to go to Staples first and print out the entire thing! It needs another look. Yes, I’ve read the manuscript many times, in sections and as a whole, but now I need to read those words on real paper, not on a screen.

I’m fortunate to have a long couch in my office, perfect for reading my novel in sections with pages spread out over the gray upholstery. It takes several days. My eyes start to glass over the words, I’ve read them so many times. But I do catch typos and misspelled words I missed on the screen. Sometimes I find my protagonist’s eye color changes from chapter three to chapter fifteen, or her hair is blond in chapter one and somehow it became sandy brown in chapter twenty – and she didn’t go to the hairdresser! Even some sentences I thought were gorgeous when I read them on screen, once seeing them on paper I realize they could be better so, with my trusty pencil, I tweak them and make them shine. 

As I read through all the pages, I fix the errors and adjust the tweaks on the Word doc. Then, on the screen, I check the manuscript one last time making sure the page numbers and chapters are correct and everything looks perfect. Now it’s ready to send to my editor. And I know there’s more work to come.

Months pass. My manuscript has been edited, reworked, revised, copy edited, line edited, formatted. Now it needs a proof read. Some publishing houses provide one or two proof readers. I’m with a small press and that part is up to me, as it is for many writers. My editor has proof read along with her other edits, but I need to check it all for myself, to be completely sure the work is ready to go to the publisher. To be made into a book for you to hold in your hands. Back to the computer I go.

Even if you’ve had your work professionally proofed, I suggest you do what I do – have the computer read the book to me. It’s incredible, after so many times my editor and I have read the manuscript, there are still more typos, misspelled words, or words omitted. Hey, we’re human! Invariably, we miss some errors because the more one reads their work the eyes see what should be on the page. We don’t realize it isn’t there. It’s a conundrum. I don’t know how that happens. I don’t understand the science, if there is one, but it happens. All the time. Though with that droll computer voice reading my story to me I hear, loud and clear, where that “and” or “the” should be or a word I mistakenly typed twice. I stop the “Read Aloud” (in Word it’s easy to do this) and fix the goof. Then I sit back and let the computer continue. This takes several days Having a monotone voice read to me, I can only sit at my computer for about two hours. More, my mind wanders, which defeats the whole purpose. Eventually, after many hours, I hear those beautiful two words. A smile fills my face. I feel the pull on my cheeks and my eyes brighten. Now the manuscript is done. It is The End – until I get the galley back from my publisher and I have to proof it AGAIN.

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Linda Rosen lives with her husband in New Jersey, but when the leaves fall and she has to swap sandals for shoes and socks, they’re off to their home in Florida. Fitness Professional turned novelist, Linda is the author of The Disharmony of Silence, Sisters of the Vine and The Emerald Necklace. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and The Women’s National Book Association, founder of the South Florida chapter, and on the board of Trails of Delray Beach, her local chapter of the Brandeis National Committee In addition she is an administrator of the 5K+ Facebook Group, Bookish Road Trip, and editor of their newsletter, Wanderlust. Follow her at www.linda-rosen.com.

THE EMERALD NECKLACE

“Engaging and mysterious, The Emerald Necklace sheds light on that inevitable time when lovers, family, friends and circumstances change and force you to reinvent yourself whether you want to or not.” –Rebecca Rosenberg, award-winning Champagne Widows series

Three months after her husband’s death in 1969, Rosalee Linoff is determined to jump back into life.

For her, that means returning to her art. She desperately wants to be accepted as a talented sculptor, but that requires she dig up the courage to submit her work again – and be judged. Her paralyzing insecurity mounts when she meets her new neighbor, best-selling author Fran Barish.

Fran has the recognition Rosalee craves. But Rosalee’s joy with her children, especially her granddaughter, Jill, eats at Fran, a constant reminder of her childlessness. A spiral of mutual envy ensues. It constantly bubbles below the surface of their friendship and is intensified by Fran’s long held secret – and her inexplicable fascination with Jill’s emerald necklace.

As Jill starts college, Rosalee worries about the choices her granddaughter might make. But Jill’s passion for women’s rights makes Grandma proud. Together with Rosalee’s friends, they travel to New York City for the Women’s Strike for Equality – which further escalates the tension between Rosalee and Fran.

When Jill’s convictions are tested, Rosalee faces a dilemma. Does she dare trust Fran to help? Will their mutual jealousy make that impossible? Or will the story behind Jill’s emerald bind them together.

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