What??? There’s Only 59 Chapters??

Welp. It is done. Today I finished typing in all the changes from the last round of editing. It really went surprisingly quickly! I averaged about 20 pages per day (at least 2 hours a day… sometimes more. A lot more.) It took me 19 days. Not bad.

If you are a writer and doubt the value of multiple rounds of editing, here’s a cautionary tale. I have read this manuscript many, many times. Several members of my writing group have also read the entire thing. So, it caught me completely by surprise this morning when I discovered a BIG BOO BOO.

I completed the changes for Chapter 56 and scrolled to the next page, ready to change the chapter heading font. Chapter 59? What? Confused, I looked through the printed manuscript. Chapter 55… Chapter 56… Chapter 59. Huh???

I hit CTRL-F and searched the navigation pane for the chapter list. Chapter 55… Chapter 56… Chapter 59. Hmmm. Seems like I misnumbered the chapters. Crap. Now I don’t have 61 chapters! I am annoyed. Why you ask? What’s the big deal—just number the last few chapters correctly.

Well, I’ll tell you why it’s a big deal. I’m the kind of person who finds significance in weird things. Things no one else would care about. Or even notice. Once I finished the manuscript, I realized there were 61 chapters. 61.

One of the themes of the book concerns legacy. Specifically the legacy related to the home I grew up in. The home my mother treasured. The home she was able to remain in partially due to the reparations I was able to secure for her from the Austrian government The address of that home? 61 Goebel Road. Yup. So you can imagine how annoyed I was to discover my book now had only 59 chapters.

I ranted to my Daily Sprinters writing group. “Maybe I should number the Prologue and the Epilogue as chapters. Then I’ll have 61 chapters again.” I wasn’t looking at the Zoom screen following my suggestion so I don’t know how many of my friends were shaking their heads.

They promptly began talking me off the ledge. “Yes. You could do that,” said one, her voice indicating dubiousness. (Is that a word?) “Does it even matter? We obviously were so engrossed in your story, none of us even noticed the chapter numbers,” stated another. Hmmm. I guess that’s good, right? Kind of a compliment, actually. “You could write something about it in your Author’s Notes” suggested a third. True, but then I’d have to admit to the fact I missed this HUGE error a million times.

In the end, I accepted a compromise. In my brain, there are 61 chapters: a prologue, followed by 59 chapters, and an epilogue. Those are truly the body of the story. 61 sections. Ok. I can live with that.

With the crisis behind me, I can now focus on the next step—formatting. I need to choose fonts and create a pleasing interior layout. Wish me luck.

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If you wish to learn more about my childhood home, I wrote a post about it a few years ago, You can find it here.