3 1/2 Weeks and Counting

According to my schedule, it's 3 1/2 weeks and counting until I ship the manuscript (electronic & hardcopy) to BookMasters to do their printing and binding magic.

The shipping date represents the first giant step in releasing your Creative Child into the wilds of the world. After that, the author and publisher have only one more chance to catch any ghastly errors on the cover or book pages before letting go completely, at which point, it becomes a real, live book. (Stuffing the chick back into the shell at that point is a very costly process.)

It's an incredibly exciting, adrenalin-pumping time.

Here is the current situation:

^ The new chapters and updated author’s preface and introduction are now in the gifted hands of the copy editor.

^ The cover art is almost finished. Basically it just needs to have the depth of color and contrast tweaked.

^ I’ve completed about one-fourth of the job of sorting through the newest list of 1,700 newspaper editor’s e-addresses for self-syndicated news & article releases.

^ This morning I finished the first of ten pieces for the new press kit and emailed it to my kind but critical proofreader.

From here on, the only additional writing I do will be on marketing and promotional materials – getting people to notice and like my baby.

(When the author owns the publishing company, he or she must focus on about
ten tasks at once! Hence the well known term tentasking.)

My lists now have lists, but the truth is I’m on automatic pilot. After writing and birthing so many books, I know what I should be doing – and when I need to cut loose and play with jobs out of order. It’s refreshing to get all giddy and reckless once in a while, like me writing the Book Fact Sheet for the press kit before I finish reviewing the full manuscript! My, my …

Happy writing ~

Linda