This was a loooong week. Recovering from last week’s sickness, getting some last minute details done on Become the Sky (cover by Sonya Lano) and, of course, finishing up Watching Jekyll and Hyde. Plus the usual little stuff like vet appointments, drugs to pickup, etc.
Exhausting. But productive. First off, my illness seems to have passed, though as usual the sore throat is lingering. I intend resting my voice over the weekend, giving my throat steam baths, etc. and then hopefully I’ll be ready to talk again without making things worse. I hate not talking but rest is essential with this, trust me. Unfortunately I’m still sleeping poorly — I’m not sure I’ll get back to normal until Watching Jekyll and Hyde is done.
Speaking of which, today I finished going over the galleys and making all necessary corrections (Mark Blankfield, in the photo above from Jekyll and Hyde … Together Again, was identified as Mark Blankfield, for instance). I’m disappointed, but not shocked, how many corrections I had to make. More disappointed that I don’t think my prose flows quite as smoothly as it did on The Aliens Are Here —I haven’t achieved the goal (as Kaye Gibbons put it once) of writing so the next word is inevitable. It’s still readable and informative and it’s possible I’m being hard on myself (we writers often are). Still next McFarland book I’ll definitely allow more time for polishing the prose.
I’d intended to make out the index before the galleys came back to me but oops, it seems I forgot. In fairness, it has been a hectic year—as you know if you read me regularly, taking care of our dogs sucked up a lot of energy this year. And it’s still doable by next Wednesday, just more of a push.
And in good news, the care for the dogs paid off. We took them in for their annual wellness exam today and everything looks good. Huzzah!
We have finished work on the Become the Sky anthology. Now it’s just a matter of telling Amazon and D2D to release it, assuming no odd problems crop up in them processing it (it happens). We have a launch party scheduled but we may not get the books in time to have them on hand—Amazon can be slow sending out author copies.
And that’s pretty much it. Intense work but not many colorful stories. Though speaking of stories, I have one Local Reporter story on the impact of federal SNAP program budget cuts to Orange County and one about a group fighting suicide on college campuses.
I’ll be working this weekend yet I’m still glad it’s here. Have fun, y’all. All rights to images remain with current holders.
