It's something of labour of love this same book. I really want to finish writing it and really want to publish it but it's taking so long. I had a flurry of activity from October 2008 until the middle of last year but work took over and I took on new responsibilities in work that again made me park the thing for a little bit.
Sitting in the house over the Christmas holidays frittering my days and evenings away doing nothing I had one of those moments of rare determination and personal resolution. I resolved to get back into the book once again and to bring the thing to a successful end.
So here I am within touching distance of being finished. I have re-edited the thing heavily, thanks in large part to some pretty candid and much needed feedback from some wonderful people who volunteered to read the thing. The re-edited book now looks quite different and reads very differently to what those volunteers trudged through. Ah well.
This past week I have been discussing my next steps for publishing with successful authors in the US and in Ireland also. I have some options though there isn't a single option that is 100% perfect. I will end up likely going with the option that ticks most of the boxes that matter to me.
I have been struggling with daft stuff like pagination and margins and section headings. Ugh. I could have someone do all this for me but I'd have to pay for that I am just can't bring myself to do all that when I can easily do it myself. It's just time consuming that's all.
A lot of people have asked me what my expectation is about this book and when it gets published. To be honest I'm taking a leaf out of Pema Chodron's book and have decided just to lean into the experience and see what happens.
It is hard just trying to get to the finish line having come so far. Having said all that and having had a little moan about all the effort this is taking, a browse through what Megan is doing to prepare for an OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRIATHLON (caps are definitely intentional) leaves me feeling like I have nothing to complain about really.
So, I'm sitting at the computer on Sunday afternoon and my elder son is gone swimming with his mum. The younger guy is playing with his Nintendo DS and there is peace in the house. I will seize the moment and get busy with the book. Onwards towards that finish line.
p.s. Megan it is so great to hear from you! I am reading through your new blog from the start.
4 comments:
You don't happen to remember me, do you? It's been a long time since I wrote on my blog (about three years), but I'm back now.
I see I'm still on your blogroll.
Shuman! Great to hear from you too - and I'm so excited you're writing a book! Best of luck getting it finished and published - can't wait to see how that pans out. An impressive accomplishment indeed!
To comment about your book, I really hope you can finish it.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about doing something like that, or maybe freelancing. It's why I revived my blog. I need to get my thoughts down, and maybe they're something that people might want to read.
go for it. I am planning to self-publish. I'll explain the reasons for that later. Lots of people giving me good and bad advice. I have done almost all the work myself (proofreading, typesetting, and so on) and it's looking like a real book now :-)
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