Monday 13 January 2025
Last Tuesday (07 January 2025), I started proofreading my revised Katyn manuscript. King Arthur and I both agreed that not much correction to it was needed: modifying verb tenses, shortening and clarifying confusing sentences, providing very BRIEF background information to certain figures or events… in essence no substantial changes. No new additional written content!
When I updated King Arthur via text message about my proofreading progress, he insisted, “Edit—don’t rewrite or ……ADD,” and included—for emphasis—a funny meme of a man with a stern expression on his face wagging his index finger. I kept my word to proofread, not rewrite or “ADD” new, likely unnecessary, written content.
And when I informed him on Saturday (11 January 2025) that I just completed “Round 1” of proofreading the manuscript, and will initiate “Round 2,” he immediately replied, “Great! Is there a need for a Round #2?”and, again, resent the meme of the stern man wagging his finger. I assured him that the purpose of “Round 2” was to replace the words: “victim,” “survivor,” and “survive” to less offensive, in my opinion, words. I reminded him of my previous blog on teaching Srebrenica Genocide testimonies and being horrified by the root word origins of those terms, “victim” and “survivor.” Another purpose of “Round 2” was to capitalize the letter “R” in the word “Realpolitik” throughout the manuscript.
These “corrections” to my Katyn manuscript aren’t dramatic or exhausting, although sifting through the manuscript felt tedious. My mantra during the proofreading was: “don’t spend too much time doing this.” This reminder was important because more than once did I resist the urge to create and add new content. Even writing and attaching a “mere” paragraph would have been excessive. At this point, I doubt putting in one very minor detail from the cadet summer study abroad trip would have made or broken the narrative.
To satisfy your curiosity about what that “very minor detail” is: while in Kraków, Poland during the cadet summer study abroad course studying the Katyn Massacres, I stood in front of a modest wooden Katyn memorial cross, one of the very first monuments to the Katyn Massacres in Poland, desperately looking for it. I have been to this site many times before. It is located on a funny little street corner adjacent to Wawel Royal Castle. A little annoyed and embarrassed with myself for feeling lost and not seeing the obvious—the Katyn cross was RIGHT behind me—I said aloud in front of King Arthur and the cadets, “Where is it? I want to show it to them.” They all started chuckling. I didn’t understand why. “I know it should be right here…” I muttered. More laughter. While curbing her laughter, one of the female West Point cadets said, “Sir; it’s right behind you.” Ha hah ha.
I didn’t even bother asking King Arthur’s opinion about including this episode in the manuscript. Funny? Yea. How funny? Not much. Important? Not really. Could I make the scene “important” by dramatizing it to unpack some subtle, unconscious insight into my development as a Katyn specialist? Maybe, however, would including it be worth it? I think King Arthur would simply resend (for the third time!) that funny meme of the man wagging his finger… King Arthur’s way of saying: “NO!”
So, as I am drafting this blog on Sunday, I finished “Round 2,” now arguing with myself about the pros and cons of the need for a “Round 3.” To use a military phrase which I heard used often by my former West Point colleagues: “task and purpose?” What would be the point of scanning the manuscript for a third time? What would I be looking for? Sudden thought: I just need to reformat the spacing for each new chapter and update the Table of Contents. In essence, performing this last-minute alteration is proofreading… nothing significant, which adds no new content; however, this update is vital. Again, this is proofreading.
I think I have arrived at that moment in my Katyn manuscript writing process when the truly last thing to do is: publish one’s work. For my college students, they would be printing out their writing assignments and turning them in class. For me, I need to find a book publisher.