Six days to publication

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog, I try to resist authorly navel-gazing. Like political opinions and body odour, it’s something readers really do not need to be aware of (I’m a reader too, and those are two things about an author I don’t care to know). On the other hand, there is a time in the cyclical writing/publishing process that tends to make me catch my breath, even if it’s only for a moment. Next Saturday, the new book goes live on Kindle, and thousands of hours of effort and work and creativity and editing culminate in that one moment, as they have done so many times before.

Amazon takes pains to remind you of what’s about to happen. Friendly-worded advice in automated emails encourages you to upload your finished manuscript in appropriate time. And your book’s publishing page even includes a handy countdown that looks like this:

At this point in the process, I’m always reminded of a literary quote (I think it was by Wilde) along the lines of, “I spent the morning deciding to take a comma out, and in the afternoon I put it back in again”. It really can get like that sometimes. But then, those are usually the times I look around and see a huge, fat bumble bee in one of Mrs. James’s flowers, or Bonnie the tabby cat having a doze in the basket we use to collect eggs, and I realise that I need to breathe again. These are moments to treasure. And everything will work out.

Have a great week, you lovely people!