Book editing. I’m STILL in it—if you can you believe it. Turns out when you have 130k words to review, and you’ve written about a heap of folks and excerpted over 60 celeb authors, there’s a TON to check + perfect. ❤️
(It’s remarkable how much you catch on the 59th read. Lol. Even someone IN the book didn’t see that I’d misspelled one of her book titles. I JUST noticed that I’d failed to list one of my besties in the Amazon/online vendors book description w/ the other names. Sheesh!)
It can feel never-ending. Maybe you know the feeling. Fortunately, it’s not. The weekend should bring relief & good sleep.
But for now, the interviewees still come in with notes, only to think of something else later. I’ll remember a detail I hope to include and ping my editor. “Is there still time?” We’re in the design phase now, but by the grace of God and a patient publisher, I’m allowed minor tweaks.
No complaining! I’m ever-loving grateful for everyone’s generosity & collaboration. Elated, really. It’s just a lot to juggle for an empath who cries at lunch over images of a kid fleeing or a dog in an underground shelter or a traumatized elephant evacuating a zoo.
Deadlines can be hard on the body and mind, even without heartbreaking images keeping you up at night. I miss not worrying so much about so many things. I miss long chats with my clients (soon!). And as much as I love her, I miss being anywhere but in the world of my book. I noticed a billion weeds in the yard and had the BEST time pulling them for hours until I realized that the day was half over. But God it was fun playing hooky with the pups in our now half-manicured jungle.
The point being, if there is one: Don’t rush your creativity, love bug. Saying what you set out to say, what you really want to contribute takes tiiiiiiimmmmmme. And there’s so much to do once you sign a publishing contract, that you’re going to be VERY happy for every bit of work you finished before the ticking clock has the last word.
Write on! Or, log off. Whatever you need now. Do that. I’m all for that.
Linda
PS. Because of my Beautiful Writers book release in August (you can preorder your copy here), I’m probably only going to do one in-person 2022 retreat. It’s scheduled for May 2-6 in beautiful Carmel. (Since things are heating up, I’ll most likely turn the Nov. Scottsdale retreat to Virtual). If you’d like to get one of the last two Carmel spots, go here.
PSS. I still have a spot left for the next week’s Virtual Writing retreat—the women are amazing and it’s going to be so GOOD to be together at this time when our hearts need to huddle and share and uplift and make GREAT shit happen! ZoomCity, it turns out, is heavenly. You can read all about it here.
PSSS. Wanna share your thoughts/connect on the above on my FB thread, my IG post, or on Twitter? I’d love it.
PSSSS. You’re the BEST. xo
