What I learned from The Big Edit™...

The job's not finished yet, but a couple of items have been driven home over the course of reviewing very nearly 200,000 words of translation.

First, watch out for the overuse of the word "also," especially in constructions along the lines of "and also" (e.g., "The company will try to sustain performance and also to introduce new technologies.)

There is a hazard as well in the premature (and, in my opinion, superfluous) appearance of "also," as in the sentence

Other countries attempting to accelerate biofuel production have also encountered problems similar to those experienced in the United States.

I find it's a little jarring to be hit with that "also" like that, its placement reminds me of the instruction "turn left where the barn used to be" given to the lost motorist in the old joke about the city-slicker and the New England farmer. The sentence reads perfectly well without the word:

Other countries attempting to accelerate biofuel production have encountered problems similar to those experienced in the United States.

In short, I've found that a significant percentage of "also" occurrences can be deleted without harming the text. Maybe it's a peccadillo of this particular translation, but still...

Second, it's almost always possible to get rid of fluff like "We should note that..." For example,

Looking back at history, we should mention that on October 8, 1975, at a scientific session de­voted to [a branch of scientific research, an eminent person gave a speech about energy.]

At the very least, the "we should mention that" can be dropped to read

Looking back at history, on October 8, 1975, at a scientific session de­voted to [a branch of scientific research, an eminent person gave a speech about energy.]

And frankly, I think the sentence survives very well - and the overall text reads smoother - in the following form:

On October 8, 1975, at a scientific session de­voted to [a branch of scientific research, an eminent person gave a speech about energy.]

I really should get back to work, even if my heart isn't really in it. I can hear Galina packing upstairs.

Cheers...

Odyssey, epiphany...

I very likely got the idea that I could write from my mom, who never let me forget that my father was a newspaperman, one of that rare breed of writers who could turn out copy that required no editing (a statement she would punctuate by repeated interjections of "not a comma").

She also revealed to me her very simple formula for becoming a writer - "All you have to do is type a million words" - the apparent idea being that, by time you've done that, you've become accustomed to the grind and have probably gained higher-than-average facility at storytelling. (Indeed, I believe I read somewhere that before achieving success as a writer, John D. MacDonald wrote over 800,000 words in stories that nobody wanted to buy.)

Her advice was not of the first-hand variety, for although it is evident to me from her papers that there was a time in her life when she really wanted to be a writer, that desire seems to have been the extent of her achievement. (And believe me, I know the pangs of that desire quite well, although Hayes Jacobs - who taught a nonfiction writing course I signed up for at the New School in Manhattan - placed that feeling into stark perspective when he told our class: "People who say they want to write most often really want to have been published, which is altogether a different thing.")

Unfortunately, right now, I must continue to work on the final batch of The Big Edit™ and get as much done as possible before dinner. After dinner, I must turn to the job of preparing to leave for Denver tomorrow (so much to do, including a briefing for the house-sitter), but I just wanted to catch these fleeting thoughts and note them down so as to somehow lend balance to some of the depictions of my late mother that I've made in various LJ posts.

Cheers...