Still, the cold was not great timing. Not only is it “birthday bonanza” time (that time in late August with a clutch of birthdays, including my husband’s and my own), but I was hoping to embark on finalizing Duality this week. I have been researching cover art, and thankfully I’m recovering enough that I believe I can do the final edit and proofread of the manuscript this week, but the formatting and pre-publication will have to happen next week. It might not seem like a huge deal, but The Fourth Quarter (the ‘fall reads’ anthology I’m releasing in mid-September) will combine Quarantine, Resonance, Duality, and A Christmas Proposal into a single book, so I need to complete Duality to keep this project on track.
That’s both the benefit and disadvantage of being self-published. You have complete control, but also complete responsibility. You don’t have hard deadlines and impossible turnaround times to keep publication deadlines and can adjust as needed, but it’s up to you to anticipate what’s needed and plan to get the work done on time. It requires a lot of organization and self discipline, but I do prefer it this way. I’d hate for a publisher to email me a request for an errata file on a full manuscript with a 72 hour turnaround deadline today. Especially with a full time job outside of the home. Ouch. I remember those days and they hurt – especially when I had to do one for Splinter with a splitting 4-day migraine!
But at least I have the option to give myself time to heal so I can do my best work, and that will work out for the best in the end. I’m not too far behind schedule, and the truth is that I needed some time to remove myself from the Singularity world so I can turn my focus back to this project. Turning the last page of a good book is hard enough when you read it, but when you’re writing it then it does take some time to leave that world and enter another, especially with multiple projects in progress.
That’s all today. Take care, and have a great rest of the week.
Bye!