Copy edits done for my novel Tollbooth

I just finished the copy edits that my publisher sent me for the novel Tollbooth. It was a great experience and I think it really helped me learn a lot about writing/editing. I heard a quote the other day that was like this: “Art is never finished, it’s abandoned.” I agree with that one. So, my first novel that has made it past all of my own drafts and through the hands of proof readers, editors and copy editors is finally abandoned–ya know, finished.

I’m pleased with how it came out. It went from 110,000 words down to 79,000. It went through multiple rewrites. It went through multiple rounds of proof reading and correcting … now, I’ll work with my house to finish the book design, add in the blurbs that my author friends have been so kind to give me from the drafts that  they’ve read …

In a few weeks, I’ll be doing readings, reeling in book reviews and (something I’m pretty excited about … posting Tollbooth chapter by chapter every Tuesday and Thursday). So, stay tuned and keep in mind, that I’m also going to be doing/dishing out signed copies of the book (in a small number myself, signed and mailed out with two copies of the Idiom zine). If you are interested in that, lemme know. I got a sense from my collection of short stories Or Something Like That, just how many people want to buy direct from me, and … yeah, I need a beer, enough yammering.

BTW, my record player is screaming out right now. “Be My Wife” by David Bowie. I’m obsessed with Low this afternoon.