Today I finished making the edits on the first draft of Capactiance, and am now in the process of going back into the computer file and making all the corrections I found on the hard copy. While editing on the hard copy was a great exercise as I actually read all the text I had written (and felt the triumphant glow of realizing that I really have written something halfway decent), entering these corrections into the digital copy is a less enjoyable step. It is a time-consuming task at best as the process of entering or omitting words and correcting grammar tends to get tedious after awhile. At one point, I found myself researching whether a specific type of wine (Merlot) should be capitalized; after half an hour of researching that one specific detail and still finding no cut and dry answer, I decided to leave the word the way it was (although that one minuscule detail will undoubtedly bother me and see me up late tonight in bed on my iPad attempting still more research to find the correct case). It is hard to feel like the whole day hasn’t been spent wasted since I am just entering onto the computer corrections my mind has already processed on the hard copy, but I know once I am done, I will feel a true sense of accomplishment. Even now, as I take a break to write this post, I feel little pride in my craft starting to glow in my weary mind–like a jewelry maker polishes a finished piece I too am finely honing my masterpiece. Each little detail that I perfect makes the novel as a whole all the more of a wonderful accomplishment, which makes agonizing over comma placement or struggling to untangle a mind-bendingly messy sentence a little more bearable.