Fun

 Writing a book is fun; making dishes and having their photographs taken by a professional photographer is also quite memorable and an experience close to being described as pride is like no other. But editing the book is another whole different matter, not to mention of having to translate it into a different language. I was under the impression that this process would be equally fast as the actual book writing did not take me more than a few months to complete. But alas, reviewing and proofreading my own writings while checking the editor's version through constant back and forth exchanges did in fact consume months of time. We weren't working full-time editing the book—sometimes the editor would be away for a few weeks running her other errands or we had somehow missed each other's busy schedules. Deciding on the sizes and the styles of the font also varies from periods to periods and requires the actual printing on the paper to confirm its proper proportions.

Very much at the same time, we were also hunting for a suitable translator who would be driven by dedication, commitment, and the openness to criticism; many candidates did not realize translating the book is not the same as translating an article. A resourceful and alert translator would understand enough to learn about the writer to take on his or her tones and retell the stories according to his/her style and preference as would be in the writer's original language. Nevertheless, we were lucky enough to find one, but editing the Mandarin version means I have to start the processes all over again and editing and proofreading Mandarin turned out to be an even bigger task than writing the book itself.