Am I too Attached?

There it is. 

I've been staring at my laptop for several hours today, wondering if the end is near. Boxes checked on the University of Alaska Press guidlines sheet, photos and captions sent, individual chapters saved in a new folder.

Wow.

Perhaps I'm ready to send in the manuscript for the final time? I'm as apprehensive about this as I was ushering my son to kindergarten a few years ago. Am I ready? Are you ready? Is Alaska ready?

The psyche vs. intellect duel is an interesting one, and today I feel like the psyche is winning. Writers are always told to "end at the ending" and "quit dragging," but in this case the ending seems to be there, it's just my helicopter parenting of this book that's keeping me from hitting the "send" button.

But I think it might be time.

After two years, I'm sure my husband would say so.

Ready, set......

The Many-Headed Monster

Thanks Manyheadedmonster.wordpress

I like these guys. Part comfort-keeper from my childhood watching "The Muppets," part definition of how I feel, today.

Today the book looks like an algebra equation married to a term paper. My checklist requires a spell-checked MS (manuscript), saved text, in both a single document and one divided by chapters, and the heads. 

Lots and lots of heads. 

Heads, for those of you who don't know (and I didn't before I became a journalist), are the quantifiable divisions of any manuscript. Introductions, chapters, sections, and sub-sections are all heads. In the average manuscript, there are usually two or three, depending upon the subject.

A guidebook, as you can imagine, has a lot. 

So, today has been spent labeling [A], [B], [C], [D]. I'd like to add an additional one for [F]..udge. 

Read, label, count, lose count, re-read, label again; it's an exercise that appears eerily similar to math. 

I hate math. 

But I love this book. 

Perhaps this is all a ploy to keep it that way.

Building a Book!

Cute little sand angel diversion.....so little, this kid was.

I never gave much thought to the mechanics of "building" a book until I became an author. Never will I take for granted the hours of work by lots of people to create the book I reach for on a store or library shelf.

Photographs have to be viewed, sorted, discarded, sorted again, and eventually converted to TIF files with captions and [ ] and .tif and "quotes" in a very particular way before bundling them all up and sending to University of Alaska Press. The guidelines sheet sent to me by Acquisitions Editor is full of scratchy notes and little doodles I made during phone calls. I'm still trying to figure out what some terms mean, and have to break down some sections, word by word.

Maps need to be made, a huge undertaking, and the past few weeks were full of desperate emails and frantic telephone conversations with all sorts of entities before I finally wizened up and emailed my web guy who said, "Sure I can."

Once all boxes on the checklist have been crossed out, everything is shipped up to Fairbanks, where a team of freelancers works in collaboration with the production editor who ultimately becomes my touchstone concering all things draft and galley proof, and eventually, final copy of Alaska On the Go: Exploring the 49th state with children.

I haven't even touched the text itself, yet. That's the easy part.

Who would have thought that 95,000 words would be considered "easy"?


Countdown to deadline: 29 days

Working Through It

Thanks for the kudos, blogosphere friends. This book project certainly has been a community and industry effort. With so many people invested in its success, launching Alaska On the Go: Exploring the 49th State With Children should be easy. Right?

After the glow wore off a bit, and after AK Dad and I had more than a few glasses of wine to celebrate, paperwork started to flow into my inbox with the speed of an Alaska snowstorm. Questions, mostly, about me, about the book, about people I know who might talk about the book, and places that might sell the book; all succinctly disseminated in a collection of University of Alaska Press formatting that I, of course, have already screwed up in my attempt to complete.

One reason I chose to approach UA Press is their desire to engage authors in the publishing process every step of the way, from initial marketing to some level of publicity and selling those books.

Hours and hours later, I'm navigating the process of my life as it stands to be for the next month. As I did while I was actually writing the manuscript, I've carefully (mostly) scripted my days.

Typically, I write in one-hour blocks, two if I've got a particularly hot deadline. But I write, every single day. I feel guilty if I don't, which may or may not be normal...

Also questionable is the fact I set my alarm to chime for a break, then I get up from my desk and do stuff. What stuff?

Laundry.  

Cooking (that's a damn fine pork shoulder in the oven, right there).

Running with dogs.

I go about the business of living for 30 minutes or so, then set the alarm again and head back to the inner world of wordsmithing.

Repeat.

Occupation: Author.

My thumbs are no longer twiddling.

They are shaking.

A message appeared in my inbox on Tuesday afternoon. The subject line read, "Good news from the University of Alaska Press!"

(I will stop right here and thank the acquisitions editor of UA Press, himself a writer and one who understands the ecstacy/agony of bad news delivered via email).

They want my book.

I wrote a book.

I am an author.

Alaska On the Go: Exploring the 49th State With Children is now a reality, and shall be released in the spring of 2014, just in time for summer tourism season and a fantastic book tour around Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

I spent more than a few moments last night thinking about the hundreds of people who have supported this project. Tour operators, airlines, railroads, ferries, hotels and cabins, and so, so many other parents - you got us here. We can't wait to see what you think.

Which now has me shaking for a whole different reason.

Thumbs, Twiddling

Lots of things happen when you send a book to the publisher.

The tax receipts get organized.

The house suddenly gets a lot cleaner.

The family dresses up like vegetables and animals and goes running.

The writer's eyes uncross.

However, other, less productive things, tend to happen as well. Anxious moments in front of the computer, double-checking the "sent mail" tab to make sure the manuscript did, in fact, reach its destination. Bordering on obsession, this multiple-times-a-day checking is wearing out my keyboard, and my husband's nerves. Sorry, dear.

There's also a lot of thumb-twiddling. Oh, I have a lot of projects awaiting my attention, some really great ones. But with the Timeline to Publish tacked to the wall directly above my desk, it's hard to ignore the fact that a 95, 000-word book is at this moment being copied and sent to the members of Publishing House's advisory board. Holy crap.

The good news is that I wrote a book. A whole book. I met a great acquisitions editor, who really likes this project and how I framed the combination of ancedotal experience and honest how-to instructions about bringing kids to Alaska.

I heard yesterday at a tourism forecast luncheon that a million people are expected to visit Alaska via cruise ship this summer. Just think how many of them might buy a book about family travel for a grandchild's parent, or rethink the wisdom of leaving said children or grandchildren at home for a lack of information about Alaska and kids. Almost blows the mind.

And re-crosses my eyes.

Get 'er done

Learning how to write a book has almost become more important than actually typing the words. 

I've discovered the value of adding "writing" to a large chunk of my smartphone's calendar, every single day. No meetings, no coffee dates, just "writing." 

Writing, of course, means powering through a solid hour of wordsmithing and critical thinking, then taking a break, usually involving wood chopping, dog-running, or baking. Baking is an excellent respite from writing, I have found. Or, at least, a peace offering to the family for which I have forgotten to provide clean laundry. At any rate, the hour on-hour off system seems comfortable enough. 

The edit process is a fascinatinating journey through my own psyche. Am I really up to this? What if I change things around and it's not the same book, anymore? Oh no, that great idea I had at 4 a.m. - I can't remember what it was! 

I'm aware of every word I add or delete, every descriptive sentence I carefully script, where it goes.  I know about every restaurant, every hotel, every attraction, and I can't help but think I owe future readers more than just a listing of places to go and things to do. 

A careful, thoughtful, process.