Menna Baines
I was working as a freelance editor and writer when I was invited by the Academi, back in 1999, to be part of the editorial team of the Encyclopaedia. I had, until three years previously, been working full-time on Welsh-language magazines, first as arts editor of the weekly Golwg (1988–91) and then as editor of the monthly Barn (1991–6). After some initial hesitation, I decided to grasp this new editorial opportunity. It sounded exciting. I also liked the fact that it was to be a part-time job, which would provide a regular source of income whilst leaving a bit of time to do other things alongside it.
The ‘other things’ soon faded into the background as the Encyclopaedia took over. First there was the fiddly job of planning the book with the indispensable help of several editorial consultants and specialist advisers, then the seemingly never-ending business of commissioning our writers (nearly 400 of them), before the editing finally began. By the time we started on the proof-reading, nearly eight years had gone by. I had moved house five times and office twice, had two children, turned forty, published a book, and still the Encyclopaedia was there, voraciously eating up computer space, monopolizing my email, creating ever higher mounds of paper everywhere and creeping into conversations with all kinds of people. There was no clocking off from ‘Psycho’ (as we started to call the project quite early on). This became even more true as my partner Peredur, an university lecturer, began giving increasing amounts of his time to help with the editing of the 1,000,000 words in Welsh, thus increasing the team of main editors from three to four. The book and its contents were constantly on our minds, even when we were not sitting at our computers. Should so and so be in? Should that article in the paper be cut out and kept for reference? Was that church or chapel still standing?
It’s strange to think that, after all the fiddling with words, facts and dates, all the sweat and tears – and fun and laughter too – the book will actually appear in January 2008. That will indeed be a happy day. My pride in having been part of this project, this adventure, alongside people of such calibre, is immense. My relief at seeing the completion date drawing nearer is huge too, but life without Psycho is difficult to imagine.
