Progress on my 69 Shelby Clone was rather limited this week due to the return of my book manuscript from the editor. They'd had the manuscript for about a month, and when it came back I was expecting to be able to take a few evenings to make any corrections before I sent it off to the printer. When I got it back the corrections were indeed pretty minor, and the editor had made some nice complimentary remarks about my writing style that gave me a little more confidence about the book. (Of course, I had to pay the editing service for this work, so maybe they say that to everybody to encourage return business.) However, one suggestion they made caused me a lot of trouble. I had written the whole book in block paragraph style, which is how I write reports and proposals at work, and also how I'm writing this blog. This style does not indent the start of a paragraph, and leaves an entire blank line between each paragraph. The editor said I should use book paragraph style, which indents the first line of each paragraph and doesn't leave a blank space between them.
This would have been no big deal, except that I had laid the entire book out in Microsoft Word, rather than using a dedicated publication layout software like Quark Express. So, when I started changing the paragraph structure in my manuscript, the amount of text on each page started changing, and since all the pictures, tables, and graphs in the book were tied to the text, they all started moving around also. So, the entire layout of the book went out the window. As I went along making the paragraph changes, I had to take each and every graphic and reposition it on the page. This took a LONG time.
I worked on the book all weekend and still I'm not done. I took a few breaks along the way when the editing was driving me crazy, and spent and hour here and there on the car. I managed to get the front hoop bent up and tacked in place; this is the bar that goes forward from the top of the main hoop on the driver's side, up to the windshield, then bends to go along the front of the windshield, and bends again to go back to the main hoop on the passenger side. I notched this bar after I had it bent up, and held it in place by supporting it with a piece of wood between the transmission tunnel and the front of the bar while tacking it to the main hoop. I also managed to get one of the front upright support bars built, which goes from the front hoop forward along the roof for a few inches, then bends down to follow the windshield angle, and then bends again to go straight down to the floor and welds to one of the 6" X 6" plates. But other than that, no progress on the car.
I'm about 2/3 of the way through the book edits, so I should be able to finish up next week and get back to work on the car. My friends Steve and Jerry are going to come over and give me a hand next weekend, so I'm looking forward to describing a lot of progress in my next report.
