So You Think You Can Write A Book

Maybe you can. Maybe you have. And if you have you know how hard writing a book is.

Especially after "The End".

After the end, there is endless rereading by the author. Editing and proofing follows every single reread.

After you think you might throw up if you have to read the book again, you pass it off to "readers"; folks who are sick kind enough to read the book for you, red pencil in hand. These folks are usually English majors, people who have proofread or edited in a professional manner, or other authors. They have a keen eye for mistakes and aren't afraid to share them with you.

After you change all that mess, you, the author, get the joy of rereading it. Again.

It's then off to the publisher who  changes the manuscript into an interior file, make it looking just like a book!  The publisher then sends it back to the author to read it and make sure it's okay to go to the printers. 

It never is. This time I found twenty something errors, one so glaring that I couldn't believe someone, especially me, had not seen before.

Publisher sends correction page(s) back and asks you to review again. (You know what this means.) Fortunately for  me,  Daughter took half and read it and I read the other half.

Of course, she found some mistakes. I sent a correction sheet. He sent corrected text back. I checked to make sure he'd corrected the mistakes, but did not read the book again.

There's some things a person just can't do.

I am in love with the book cover, both front and back. I think you'll like it, too.

If there's more mistakes in there when you read the book, well I think they reproduce when the book is closed. Diana Gabaldon said that, and I think she ought to know, being a famous author and all.

I haven't even talked about the photo shoot for the cover, or having to have my own durn picture struck. Eww.

Of course, many authors have nothing to do with the outside cover, but I'm too controlling and usually by a few pages in I know what the cover should look like. 

Also, there is the fearful task of trying to make sure you thank all the folks who helped make the book what it is. I am always afraid I'll leave someone out, even though I take notes.

The next step is receiving the manuscript back from two authors who are previewing the book in order to do blurbs on the cover about how great it is. If they don't like it, I'm in a heap of trouble.

Once the publisher gets a hard copy back from the printer, guess who has to read the book again.

But this time will be different because, magically, I will hold a book in my hand that I wrote.

I'll read it, I'll pray it's as funny as I think it is, the printer will print, and I will get books weeks after that.

So, say a little prayer that a book signing will occur in  mid-November.

If I'm not too tired to do one.

I did it

I did it.

I shaved my face.

Boy, I sure do  miss my eyebrows.

Ha, ha. Just kidding. Even I ain't that stupid.

I did it because a young friend of mine does some modeling and she said all models shave the fuzz off their face before a photo shoot in order for the make up to go on smoother, for a richer look.

It didn't work.

I told Husband I was ready for my picture to be struck. I asked how my make up looked.

He got up real close and squinted at my face. "Can't tell any difference," he said with a shrug.

Sigh.

So, anyway, I had a billion pictures made. Then we decided to get Eli (my Maine Coon cat, in case you don't know) and see if there was a candid shot in there somewhere. It took him a few shots to get comfortable. He was about to lie down on the table next to  my old typewriter, so I reached back behind me to get the chair.

The idea was for me to slowly sit down at the typewriter with Eli lying there next to me.

What a great shot!

That wasn't meant to be. As I stepped backward with my eye on Eli, I stepped on Mimi, Daughter's cat, and she yowled like Big Foot had stepped on her (shut up). Of course, that put Eli on high alert and he jumped down to run after her. 

Sigh again.

I guess I ain't never gonna be a high paid model.

Plus, my grandmother kept showing up. Now, she died in 1987, and had plenty of her own photos made. Why she kept getting in front of my face is beyond me.

As you might guess, I've had trouble picking out which photo to use for my book. Actually, I gave up and sent four to my publisher. 

Let them deal with it.

After all, they  never knew my grandmother.

Today's the Day

Today is the day I meet with my publisher to hopefully do the grand finale before sending my new book, "The Year of Nine: Where the Rain Begins" to print.

Who knows?

I've tried to just tell myself I have done my job. The words are finished.

I know we have to work on the cover today, and maybe we can say, "Yes!" and I can turn it loose.

It's not as nerve wracking as it was with my first book. I am more at ease. But it is still an adventure, and one I look forward to.

I hope ya'll will love it, or at least like it a little bit.

But if you don't, be gentle.

That's my heart you're messin with.

The Home Stretch

I can see the end. I am on the home stretch. Within about fifty pages, more or less, I will probably be finished with my first draft of my next novel.

I think, for the moment, it is going to be about a two hundred page book, which is a good sized read.

Although for me, when one of my favorite authors writes a really big novel, I get all a'quiver inside because I loooove big books.

That's reading them, not writing them.

In my experience, a book writes itself and will be as long as the story it has to tell.

I know you have read books where there is obviously filler, or the ending of the story just stops, or is lame.

I've read very good books until the last chapter or so, or even the last few pages, and the author makes ruination out of something that was pretty good.

I hope I never do that.

Anyway, once the first draft is complete (or I think it's complete - I thought "Out on a Limb of the Family Tree" was finished three or four times), the hard work begins.

Proof reading. Editing. Yuck.

And after I've done it myself, ad nauseum, I humbly ask others to do the same for me.

I would never send something unpolished to the publisher. I want it neat and complete.

I will hope not to get grumpy, not to become obsessed, and just be focused on the job.

Yeah. Right.