The book proofs came in yesterday. Today I got up, still under the weather from a sore throat/chest cold (gotta’ LOVE summer colds, le’sigh), and looked at my desk. Yep, not a dream,  the hard copy is still sitting there.

The “proof” isn’t the final product…but it’s close. It is the point where the last changes are to be made, the cover art looked at, and where any last minute manuscript flubs or goofs get fixed.  THEN I upload the last changes/fixes and push the “PUBLISH” BUTTON.

The interesting thing that struck me about all this is that I pushed “publish” last year on the e-book version of this work, and while I was jazzed, I guess there really IS something more tangible to seeing the work in the paper format.

The process also forced me to take a long hard look at what I had finished on the e-book side, and then take another pass to clean up stuff that I’d missed in the earlier version.

The wondrous part of all of this is the realization that I COULD. No gatekeeper telling me no.  No legal worries.  The work is mine, and if I feel like making a lil’ nip/n/tuck after the fact, it’s my decision.

At some point down the line, if I’m even a little bit successful financially with this endeavor, I will DEFINITELY hire an editor, as the job of picking nits and polishing the work is REALLY time consuming. Getting it close, no problem, but when one has to self-edit/format/market, etc., one begins to realize just how much work getting the story from inside of the head to the printed page publishing really is.

That said, the first time is also the time of learning.  Of discovery. Of Joy.

Here are some pics of the book, and now ‘scuse me while I go sneeze and take some medicine. 🙂