Hello, my friends and the occasional relative!

How many times can a book be finished? Many many times.

Given that, I have finished making the final proofing corrections. So from my perspective the book is done. I will still read it again, because the last thing I did was a specific word check, and as I was checking those instances I noticed a sentence with an unnecessary and sense breaking ‘it’ standing stranded at its center. I’m guessing a relic from a previous version of said sentence.

And my amazing Word 2007 did not even pick it up as a grammatical problem, even though it rendered the sentence nonsensical. Folks, when I tell you that AI had no input into my writing; that pretty much proves it. I have previously used ProWritingAid, but decided this time not to. I dislike loading my work into someone elses’s data engine, and their reports, while interesting, were part of why I spent three years agonizing over The Killer and The Dead. Never again. (To quote Excalibur’s Merlin.) I don’t need to work to appease a scoring system I may not even agree with. They have apparently upgraded recently (I get the emails), but a new color scheme and some graphics does not make me any more comfortable loading my writing into their program, or letting their program watch everything I write. I never installed it when I got a new PC. Yes, I am an old technophobe now.

But and however. The book is finished. Time for formatting, and a laborious read through once that is done, in which I will be financially motivated to find all my mistakes, as I will pay to correct them at that stage. It’s like gambling at pool, money on the table focuses attention.  In theory anyway, I don’t gamble at pool on the basis that anyone who wants to bet already thinks they can take your money, so why give it to them? Maybe my T level is too low. I got tested, that’s not it.

To be honest I can’t wait for all this to be over. I need a break from writing – despite all the ideas I’ve been having recently. I’m going to take a week off work to do nothing, and it is going to be awesome. The book is formed, all that may remain are stray prepositions.

What does this mean for a publication timetable? I have no idea. I’ll email my cover artist and my formatter today and see when they are available. It’ll happen when it happens. I seem to be stuck in a cycle of releasing my books at the unfashionable end of the year, but at least that has the advantage of catching my contractors in slow periods, after the new year and midsummer holiday release rushes are over.

I can reacquaint myself with the business side of writing, now the creative part is done. Yes, I say that every three months or so, but this time I kind of mean it. I am a terrible book business person, and I own it. Today I also just don’t care. What will be will be, what is important to me is the process I just finished. I’m more interested in learning Scots, Italian, and Latin than I am in becoming a better business person. And no, I don’t want to pay someone to do it for me. Ha! I have decided I will wait for the business muse to strike me, and then I will be transformed by business muse inspiration to work on that side of the self-publishing life. Until then the bare minimum will do.

That’s it, my friends, not with a bang but a whimper, I am finished with The Gardener and The Goddess. It is excellent, unusual, and intriguing. I believe in it, but I’m done fucking with it anymore.

Until next week, my friends.