No more books!
Way back in January, I described how I was finishing work on a book I was writing with Terry. Anyone that knows me that will tell you I’m not a procrastinator. Neither is Terry. Nonetheless, we’ve put in lots of time on the project since then, and I just sent the index to the publisher yesterday.
Even though the chapters were theoretically done with time to spare, we wound up working with the editor improving things up to the deadline — you don’t want other people noticing easily fixable flaws since your name’s on the cover. Then, a bunch of production work needs to be done. The editor tweaks a few things, the book gets typeset, and artwork is added.
After we had the camera ready copy in hand, we worked with the editor to change the layout because some of the figures were not clear enough. The publisher has proofreaders, but we went over it with a fine toothed comb to look for small errors. Yesterday, I finally sent in the index — that can’t be written until you know exactly what page everything appears on.
By the time you’re done, you’re pretty tired of it. I remember after finishing my first book project, I swore I wouldn’t do another one because it’s so much work. Two weeks later, I approached Terry and we started this one. I would have preferred to wait, but timing is important.
I’m very happy to be done with this — now I can do something more fun on my weekends. In a bit of coincidental timing, the first royalty check from the first book came in. I used it to buy a new transmission for my bike that will make riding in the mountains much easier.
Despite the fact that I know what I’d write about if I did another book, I’m not going to do it. At least for another couple years…..