Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: The Manuscript (04/29/10)
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TITLE: Sheep are for what? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tom Rinkes
05/01/10 -
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“Why do I have to double space?; it's such a waste of paper. Is my editor purposely trying to drive me crazy? Did I really write that opening line? It stinks...I need a coffee.”
A manuscript is defined as anything you write down before an editor lays their eyes on it. It's your property, your thoughts, your emotions alone and no one can match it. You did the research, the homework and the re-writing all by yourself. You send it, un-stapled, to the magazine or publisher of your choice and hope for the best. You even feel proud of yourself for completeing something as prestigious as a “manuscript,” and you love to read anything except a rejection slip. Such is the life of a manuscript maniac.
I don't know who it was that made the first manuscript; maybe it was a Sumerian. But whoever it was had to experience what we all do, minus the proof writer. It was tedious work then, preparing the parchment or a papyrus. They had to be very careful of their thoughts and the planning of each sentence because of what they had to write on. It's not like Hammurabi, Plato, Apostles John and Paul could trot down to the nearest Office Maximus and pick up a ream of chamois. Now that I know what parchment is made of, I'll never look at sheep and goats the same way again.
The Book of Hours was a medieval collection of manuscripts written and stored by Christian monks containing psalms, prayers and scripture interpretations. Like every manuscript, each was unique in its own right. Illuminations or decorations were kept to a minimum, often restricted to a large, capitol letter at the beginning of the first paragraph. I've seen this a lot in things I've read, and now I know where that came from. “Will wonders never cease,” as my lovely wife would say.
As John sat in his darkened and damp room, I wonder if he often pondered about his manuscript.
“How should I write this—was it a dream, or a vision? Acts one through seven make perfect sense, yet the rest are puzzling. Should I try to interpret them for the reader? Will they then be as confused as I? Nonetheless, I must do as my Master commanded.”
“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book, and if anyone takes away the words of the prophecy of this book, God will take away his part of the Book of Life, from the Holy City and from the things written in this book.” (Jesus Christ, Revelation 22: 18-19 NKJV)
I suspect John the Revelator went verbatim.
All the books, or scrolls, in the great Library of Alexandria were first manuscripts, as were all the books of the Bible. From Shakespeare's finest play to today's average letter to the editor, they were first manuscripts. All ideas and the implementation of them started on paper, sometimes as simple as a napkin. Where would civilization be today without the manuscript? Probably trying to figure out why that square wheel keeps getting stuck in the mud.
And by the way, the man got a cup of coffee, sat for an hour till the right side of his brain kicked in, and finished his manuscript. He sealed it, mailed it and sent it to the magazine that had rejected his last three entries. Then he sat at his desk, propped his feet on it, and smiled.
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