In the Act of Catching Up

For me, when Steve starts back to school, summer's over, and he'll be getting out of the house at 6:00 a.m. starting next Monday. I'll miss him, but I get in the back-to-school mode, too, and get a burst of energy for getting things done.

Often summers aren't especially productive for my writing but this one was a bit different. I found a copy editor and book designer who inhabit the same body. Yay! I sent her my "finished" manuscript (rewritten from January through mid-June, based on my wonderful writing group's edits and suggestions) by June 24. Then I took off for 10 days at the beach. Yay some more!

The copy editor persona sent the first half of the book back to me right around August 1; I made corrections and tinkered with the text and sent it back to her in less than a week. I'm awaiting the second half, and also awaiting the emergence of the book designer persona. I am eager to see what she comes up with for a cover design.

Did I mention, the target date for Until Proven, to be in the world is October 1?

You might think I'd be feeling the glow of accomplishment, the satisfaction of bringing all the characters into being, the wonderment that a story like this one could come out of my head. It's actually been a little difficult to find the glow etc. Perhaps because there is still so much to do. Perhaps because it's just one of those things that has to be anticlimactic. I kinda hope that moment is still out there for me. If not, no biggie.

Meanwhile, here's what I need to do:

• Hours more research on how to market a book
• Translate that research into a plan
• Execute the plan so that everyone on the planet wants to buy and read Until Proven

That's where you come in. If each of you will tell 10 people and each of them will tell 10 people and each of them ... Heck, nothing to it. So now that we're caught up, will you please get busy?