Book Tracking: Chapter One

Being my first dive into the world of becoming a published author, I thought it might be fun to share some of the steps along the way. One, for those who may wish to undergo such a thing in the future, it may serve as an interesting base of knowledge for what to expect. Two, I've had so many people asking me about the book, I thought this might be a way to answer questions en masse. If nothing else, its kind of fun to see what is happening along the way.

I've already written an entry or two while I was working on the manuscript, so I'll just pick up from there and call this Chapter One. Everything prior was really just preparation anyway. With these entries, I'll keep you posted on what's happening along the way so that I don't have to go through it alone. You can share in the excitement and the (surely they're coming) disappointments of actually getting a book to the shelves. Oh boy, what fun. Here we go ...

Okay, in response to those who have been asking; the book manuscript is now officially finished. Well, at least the writing part is done and I feel like my brain is now recouperating from natural childbirth. Being a First Draft Freddy pretty much my entire life, the process of writing and then revising was a bit of a challenge for me. To be honest, most of my published columns are written in a single sitting. The only revisions I've been accustomed to were for cutting back the length to an acceptable magazine wordcount. So, trying to re-work, re-word, re-phrase and copy edit my own stuff was difficult. Yes, there is a copy editor who is working on this next, but I thought that doing the first stuff myself would keep the overall flow that I like to have in my writing. More conversational, I guess, than what the typical writer writes. If someone else is going to edit my work, I want to ensure that it retains my style rather than taking on thiers. Otherwise, what is the point, right?

The manuscript delivery process completed yesterday with the printing of several copies, dispursement to a few select "readers" who will critique it, emailing to a few different individuals who have agreed to review it and submission to the person in charge of copy editing. Her job is perhaps the most gruelling! Good luck there.

The next step in the process, I assume, will be to make whatever changes the copy editor suggests. I'm assuming there will be a lot. I'm also looking forward to the critique offerings coming back. I've got my suspicions that one or more chapters might not make it through to the final product, but I'm waiting to see what these people say. If they love them, then what the hell. You might too.

The worst part of the current procedure is waiting to see what the reviews are like. To me, book reviews are kind of like comments from a toddler. A five-year old has no problem telling the lady ahead of him in the grocery checkout isle that she has a big butt. "God lady, you got a big butt!" He notices and he says. Its that simple. When you let friends and family read what you've written, you're always going to get a response that considers your feelings. Even if they don't like it, a friend will usually focus on the parts that they did like or simply lie to you. A family member might be a bit more honest, perhaps offering an area where "you could do better" or "maybe you should rethink this", but they won't tell you the unbiased truth. Never will the woman who pushed you from her loins look at you and tell you your work sucks. If she does, you probably weren't a very good child.

The reviewer is different. When someone professionally reviews your work, they aren't taking feelings into consideration. They're going to tell you what they think, regardless of how you take it. They don't care how you take it because they don't know you from Adam. Like the toddler commenting on the stranger's butt, the reviewer will give a reflection of what they see. Its their job. Truth be known, they probably enjoy it. (Imagine a life where you could actually say what you wanted ... wow.)

So now I wait. I guess I'll need to catch up on other work in the interim. I should probably write a couple of more columns for the magazine and get caught up on that as well and, who knows, I may even post a few more things to this blog site. Now that would be a change, wouldn't it?

All the best,

WDL