home stretch

We're in the home stretch. If all goes smoothly, Friends of Mine is set to be released on August 10th. I put in 10- and 12-hour days this past week getting the manuscript ready for the book formatter. That involved mostly a lot of editing, honing, refining (and I don't dare look at the manuscript now because I know I'll find something to change), as well as compiling photos--this is a memoir, after all.

I don't remember the last time I was so stressed out over a writing project. Maybe it's because I had overlapping deadlines with She Has Your Eyes. Maybe it's because the stakes for self-publishing are ten times as high as when I first self-pubbed three years ago. Maybe it's because when it comes to my writing, my perfectionism hasn't let up.

Maybe all of the above.

But with this latest deadline behind me, I am slowly returning to normal. I'm once again eating foods that require pots and pans to prepare them. I cleaned my bathrooms and bedroom yesterday, and my studio today (tomorrow, the kitchen and living room). When the rain lets up, I'll go to the beach.

And yet, I still have so much to do--press releases, launch party, book signings, blog appearances. . . I need to plan and arrange it all. I need to update my website (and, if you haven't noticed, I've been playing around with new looks for the website; still haven't found the one I'm in love with yet), I need to proofread the layout when it comes back from the formatter. And I just hope/wish/pray I'll get it all done.

In the meantime, I've got a new novel idea marinating, and I'm collaborating on two more. And I love that even during the downtime, I'm always asking myself, "What's next?"

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