AndrewJKnight

Sigh.

In my book there is a character called Jeremiah. He stutters (with good reason). And like that character I want to shout and rave about how my book is ‘finished’ but all I manage is,

“f…f…fi…fi…fin…fin…”

Yesterday I received my first run of books – for family at Christmas. I’ve six copies – one for me. But as I’ve started going through it I’ve found several format issues, which I’d expected because until you’ve got a product in your hand you can never be 100% about how t looks. But I’ve also found a few grammatical mistakes and issues. And, most annoyingly, a random ‘2’ where I’ve obviously tried to type a “.

After all is complete I intend to publish a few blog articles on writing – my tips and tricks. Irrespective of the fact I’m one guy, without a publisher, my experience covers much of the basics of writing a book. I intend to cover subjects such as, ‘Just Write’, ‘Writing is Editing’ and the one most apt for today, ‘Step Away from the Project!’

It’s this last point that I’ve recently failed at. In my rush to get the book complete for Christmas I spent ten weeks putting my every free waking moment (including a mid-week all nighter) into editing the book. I literally had no time to step away from the book and return to it later.

Ordering six copies from Lulu and waiting for delivery (which wasn’t speedy) finally forced a much needed break onto me (although I remained busy with freelance work). Upon returning to the title I simply see what I couldn’t before. If I’d read the same sentence twenty times, which in some instances I have, I still would have missed problems without a break.

It’s the same effect as when you sleep on a problem. Often, when refreshed, any difficulty becomes clear.

Anyway, more on this later. The final, final (if there is ever such a thing) copy will be available in January.

I’m just dreading my mothers response,

“Eee man” she’ll say. Quickly followed by, “I’ve noticed lots of little problems”

And despite my protestations that, “yes, I’ve noticed,” she won’t believe me. I know external review is good – but parents are different, parent’s can be awfully crushing.

In the end, I’m a bit ambivalent about this recent delivery – the story is as excellent as ever, but the quality could be improved. I just want to be able to say I’m f… f… fi… fi… fin… fin.. fini… fini… finis… finis… ah, f**k it!