Deborah Jarvis's Blog: Deb Jarvis's Little Blog

When you wrote a boon twenty years ago and are going back to look at it again, it is one of those things that you suddenly realize is a lot like being in that Talking Heads song where you yell "My God! What have I done?"

I seriously am feeling a lot like that most days recently. There is a LOT of work that needs to be done before this book will be ready. I have grown up a lot. The book...not so much. It'll get there.

Publishing has been a learning curve for me. I know there are books and articles out there aplenty, and I've read a few of them, but the process of publishing the book and finding the problems has been a trial and error sort of endeavor.
I think that now I'e done it, there are a few things that I will do in the future.
1. Have a few people I trust proof-read the novel for readability issues. There were three minor things that my daughter caught that I was able to fix later, but were troubling.
2. Trivia - Originally, the first two stories were one long book. Somehow, possibly because of this, the title of the second book made it on the the title insert page for the first book. This was caught prior to publishing the paperback, thankfully, and corrected.
3. Make sure the cover gets centered correctly. Again, this is a minor thing, but needs to be addressed before the first books go out to print. Small problems, now corrected.
It's been a very strange ride. I learned through the process that as much as you love your story, don't get caught in the trap that it can't be improved. The writer I was in my 20s, when Keyralithsmus was first penned, is not the person I am now that I am 50. The bones were there, but the flesh needed some toning.
I'd like so say I am older and wiser now. I think (hope) that's true.

Why does anyone write a blog?

Well, it is often to keep a record of dates, and this past week has been a bunch of dates worth recording. Pandemic, politics, civil unrest, and a year like no other is a good reason to want to set a record.

For me, this past week was the day I published by book. This is something I worked on as a teenager, toiled through to write longhand in my 20s, typed in my thirties, ignored through most of my 40s, and now, at 50, I'm ready to tackle it head on.

A summer at home and a good friend were reasons enough to finally nail the problems and fix the formatting. The framework was sound, but it needed new wallboard, some new wiring, and a clean coat of paint. The finished product looks and feels fresher than any has is in years. It's done, it's homey, and it's comfortable.

Loving a book for love's sake is a mistake a lot of authors make. You grow to not see the splintered boards or the small stain on the ceiling where the water seeped in from the tub overflowing upstairs. You tolerate the odd smell that seems to have sunk into the carpet permanently. It's time for a change, but the effort to do it seems daunting.

However hard it was to gut this book and fix some of the egregious issues, the effort seems to have paid off. I like the new book even more and am admiring the paint job, the new trim, and the little tasseled cords holding back the curtains.

Analogies aside, the book is stronger now than it ever was. More importantly, I love the book again. I am IN love with the book again. And the effort to get it there was worth all of the frustration, sweat, and tears that went into it.