Guess what arrived this week? My new-and-improved, fully-copyedited bee book manuscript. Go on, have a peek:
Did you notice the new title? THE HIVE DETECTIVES is now called COLONY COLLAPSE: CHRONICLE OF A HONEY BEE CATASTROPHE. I am not sold on this change yet; what do you think?
Did you also notice the scads of purple ink on the text pages? (You might have to click the image to enlarge it and see the scads clearly.) The fun begins on page one, with the word honey bee. Houghton Mifflin house style calls for this to be changed to a single word: honeybee. Scientists, however, prefer the more accurate two words: honey bee. My job is to figure out which is most appropriate for this book … and once I have to move on and address hundreds of similar issues on pages two through sixty-seven (plus i through xxxv).
If you are my friend and you are a beekeeper, you will surely be hearing from me this week!