Entering the Home Stretch

This morning I proofed the first half of Lord of the Freeborn, which is the seventh book of the series that I might have mentioned around here a time or two. Hopefully, I’ll finish that today. Then tomorrow will be spent proofing Lords of Existence, which is the eighth and final book in the series (I suppose I should add “as envisioned now,” to that). When this is done, I’ll still have quite a bit of packaging to do. Yes, quite a bit. But this milestone will mean the true end of the creative element of this work, at least regarding the text itself.

I’m sitting here eating my lunch and thinking about that.

It feels strange. It’s a weird post-partumness that doesn’t feel like other projects. Perhaps that’s because this represents the endgame to my first run as an independent publisher rather than as a writer. I’m not sure that’s the cause, but it feels right. When volume 8 is finally finished, it will be the tenth book I’ll have finished building in the past couple months (starting with my two baseball roadtrip/fantasies).

I find the emotional aspect of doing this project myself to have been fascinating. At times I’m absolutely pumped and raging with energy toward the work, and at others it’s just seemed overwhelming and daunting. But one thing I’ll definitely say about it is that doing this myself has felt extremely intimate. I’m thinking that in particular as I go over the proofing process. Every time I read this work, I realize that someone is going to read it exactly as I leave it. This is all me, speaking directly to all you. Yes, it’s been beta-read, and yes, it’s been copy edited. But I make the decisions. It’s me and it’s you. As I’m making changes in the text, I’m feeling the eyes of the reader at every step right now.

No pressure, right?

I’m admittedly fairly pleased with the response so far. Most readers seem to really love the actual work, and the only complaints that seem to be holding water have to do with the fact that Glamour of the God-Touched was so short. I can only plead guilty, and note that it is the shorted segment of the entire series. Shrug. I’ve touched on why that is in other posts, so I’ll not rehash it here.

But these comments, too, feel different from the usual reviews I get on my short work published through other veins. Again, they feel more intimate. I suppose that’s because they come for the most part unbidden from the readership (I say for the most part, because while I never demand a glowing review, I certainly do request that people as a whole talk about the work…so I’m sure some folks will respond to that prompting).

Anyway, lunch is over now.

Time to get back to the work.

And, yeah, I still feel you there, perched on my shoulder and whispering “you’re not actually going to say it that way, are you?”

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Posted in Daily Writing, SGTM, Uncategorized.

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