Work
Two books down (one printed, one at press), one to go.
Book 2 didn't turn into the technical nightmare I'd been worried about, thanks to a fairly smooth conversion from Quark to InDesign. It still took a decent number of hours, but I managed to get all the files in on time. I now know a lot more about economics, thanks to 164 pages of VCE study guide that are currently emblazoned on my brain. My favourite part of this job is the fact that I can soak up random trivia while doing it.
Work on Book 3 starts tomorrow morning, and is likely to keep me busy for most of the week. The final book is a National Politics reader, so the most time-consuming sections are likely to involve re-drawing diagrams of the House of Reps and the Senate, to reflect seats held in the new parliament. I'm looking forward to not having to deal with endless pages of missing fonts and jury-rigged tables once the three books are complete - I've been painstakingly rebuilding each file from scratch. Any future edits will simply involve replacing outdated material in the files, probably halving the hours required to update the books. While it's nice to get paid for my time, smoother updates on books that need processing during the end-of-year rush can only be a good thing.
I've also done plenty of painting this weekend. Lon's Khadorans will be ready by Wednesday night, and Leigh's Pirates will be finished for Friday night. That lets me finish off two large categories on The List, and leaves me with only three major projects that need to be finished before Arcanacon. That still makes for a busy January (is there any other sort?), but should leave time to head out bushwalking at some stage...
Apparently Christmas is happening sometime soon. It's in "after the deadline" time, so I haven't been able to think about it as anything but an abstract concept so far.
Book 2 didn't turn into the technical nightmare I'd been worried about, thanks to a fairly smooth conversion from Quark to InDesign. It still took a decent number of hours, but I managed to get all the files in on time. I now know a lot more about economics, thanks to 164 pages of VCE study guide that are currently emblazoned on my brain. My favourite part of this job is the fact that I can soak up random trivia while doing it.
Work on Book 3 starts tomorrow morning, and is likely to keep me busy for most of the week. The final book is a National Politics reader, so the most time-consuming sections are likely to involve re-drawing diagrams of the House of Reps and the Senate, to reflect seats held in the new parliament. I'm looking forward to not having to deal with endless pages of missing fonts and jury-rigged tables once the three books are complete - I've been painstakingly rebuilding each file from scratch. Any future edits will simply involve replacing outdated material in the files, probably halving the hours required to update the books. While it's nice to get paid for my time, smoother updates on books that need processing during the end-of-year rush can only be a good thing.
I've also done plenty of painting this weekend. Lon's Khadorans will be ready by Wednesday night, and Leigh's Pirates will be finished for Friday night. That lets me finish off two large categories on The List, and leaves me with only three major projects that need to be finished before Arcanacon. That still makes for a busy January (is there any other sort?), but should leave time to head out bushwalking at some stage...
Apparently Christmas is happening sometime soon. It's in "after the deadline" time, so I haven't been able to think about it as anything but an abstract concept so far.