Whew!  THAT was WORK!

My novella is now in the hands of a few generous proofreaders.  I would, of course, prefer to hire a professional to ensure lack of errors and correctness of grammatical minutiae, but I lack the funds.  It’s not a great reason, I know.  It is one of the beautiful aspects of indie publishing that I can return at a later date when I DO have funds to spruce it up a little.  Just like eventually I’ll be updating the cover.  They do this in traditional publishing, too.  It’s called a new edition.  But in e-pub, it can happen whenever I want it to, rather than waiting several years or for some Hollywood bigwig to turn it into a subpar movie.  Yay!

Does this mean I’m wittingly putting out a subpar book?  Er…maybe?  I’m wittingly shoving it out into the world knowing it hasn’t had an editorial once-over.  Does that make it subpar?  Readers will have to be the judge.  I have a solid grasp of mechanics and “One For All” is highly stylized (it is, in fact, the most stylistically difficult book I’ve ever written.  Note to Self: More on that in another post).  Hopefully my proofers will catch anything I missed, or I catch anything we all missed in my final pass.  The unfortunate truth is that even professional editors miss things – the brain is funny that way.  (Seen those memes that say, “If you can read this, you have a strong mind,” wherein most of the letters are wrong or numbers?  Same principle.  The brain is wired to read what’s familiar in the unfamiliar.)  I’m about to embark on formatting, and that may introduce errors, too.

Anyway, this post wasn’t supposed to be about apologetics.  What I really wanted to say was: “Go me!”  Because it’s important to recognize one’s triumphs, especially in solitary businesses like writing and radiation suit testing.  Granted, saying, “I have completed the entire story polish process!” isn’t nearly like saying, “20 suits and no cancer!  Woohoo!”  But, you know.  A girl has to take her wins where she can, right?

I now understand the editing process.  The agony.  The ecstasy.  The exhaustingly slow pace of picking over every.last.word.  And then doing it again. Until it feels like your brain is bleeding out your ears.  Or, in my case, like a fool decked out in bells and motley has taken up residence in its control center.  I am by no means a master.  Or even a journeywoman.  I’m barely an apprentice newly introduced to the workshop.  But I’m here, and that’s a huge step for a gifted slacker like me.  (That’s the actual, culturally official term.)  It may have taken me two months longer than anticipated, but it’s done.

“One For All,” the first installment of the Chronicles of the 13 Colonies, will be available by the end of the month.  Hop over to my sci-fi site to sign up for the newsletter and get the official link and announcement when it goes live!