Approval & other things

      The distribution version of Murder by Dewey Decimal will be approved tomorrow. Sometime in October, MBDD will be available for ordering (I hope) at Amazon.com, Barnes & Nobles, and your local bookstore.
      I admit that I've held off approving the distribution copy. I kept being paralyzed by the fact that I wouldn't be able to make corrections after the approval. I kept rereading a chapter or two. One more time, I'd tell myself. But today I sat myself in front of the computer, entered the seven corrections, and started the process of revision on Lulu. Tomorrow I will finish. (If you have any corrections, please let me know today or tomorrow, because by Saturday, it will be too late.)
      Of course, not all the holdup has been me. Lulu required a couple more changes, and then they missed the first and second feed for their distribution channels (whatever that means), but it's poised for the third feed. But the major holdup has been lack of confidence on my part.
      What finally kicked me out of my stalled stated was the realization that it won't be perfect no matter how long I wait. Even books put out by the big houses have mistakes in them (typically left out words or misplaced names). Nothing's perfect on earth. My book is as good as I can make it. That will be enough.
      Besides, worrying about it has kept me from working on Murder by the Acre and Floozy. And trust me, they both need work. MBTA has several problems, some of which can be fixed easily, some of which are requiring more rewriting than I had hoped. Floozy, the collection of my humorous writing, mostly requires organization, formatting, and copyright clearance. Some of my humor has been for publications that still hold the copyright. I need to get permission to reprint the articles or get the rights assigned back to me. I've been calling and sending out letters to that effect. It will take months to get all the rights back, if I even can. Even without those articles, though, I have enough for a book. It just has to be arranged, edited, formatted, etc. And I need a good cover, too.
      So I have plenty to keep my busy. I can't remain stalled on one book. My future –- at least the one I'm working for –- requires that I keep moving forward. Gotta remember that.
*       Of course, as you know, I've been on vacation this week. I've slept late, ran errands when I wanted, went out to eat several times, watched a couple of movies, puttered around the Internet, etc. It’s been grand. I don't want it to end.
       What have I done? Let's see ... in no particular order of importance ... went to Little Niagara for a cookout where I got to see Mikey and his little brother Jay; went to the library to discuss my book signing on September 13; went to an used bookstore and found three Tom Swift Jr. books that I didn't own; went to Staples for supplies; worked on the distribution copy of MBDD; worked on the family newsletter (still need my brother's article, sigh); watched the extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; read The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald, the three Tom Swift Jr books, The Sharing Knife: Beguilement and The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold, and Holly Lisle's Create A Plot Clinic by Holly Lisle (one of the best writing books I've read lately and will review soon here); currently reading The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, The Mobius Strip by Clifford Pickover and What's Science Ever Done For Us? by Paul Halpern; doing housework, including laundry and dusting (I hate dusting; and so on. Lots of errands in there, too. This afternoon, I have to work on my bills and get them ready to mail and do more filing. But it's still vacation because I get to choose what I do! That's the difference between work and vacation. On vacation, I get to choose.
*      By the way, Scribblenut! has disabled comment moderation -- he didn't realize it was on -- so go by and comment now if that was holding you back.
*      And now I'll close with a couple of photos from the trip to Little Niagara. The first is Mikey's little brother Jay. The second is Mikey and his Papa at the Nature Center.





      I hope y'all are doing okay. You have a good day. I'll talk to you later. Adios.
 
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