As always, I’d like to begin this week’s progress report by thanking all of you awesome people who’ve followed, liked and/or commented on my blog!

Estimated Days Until Beginning the Fifth Draft (July 28):

No stats this week, since I’m not directly working on my manuscript.

Thoughts On Leaving My Book Alone

From the moment I unceremoniously sent my manuscript and book blurb to the editor, it’s been a fairly calm week on the writing front. I’m pretty much past not being able to leave my book alone during break periods.

So far, the biggest struggle has been those random moments when I remember that HOLY SHIT MY BOOK IS BEING LOOKED AT BY A PROFESSIONAL EDITOR and I have to wait for my heart rate to come back to normal. Seriously, laying in bed reading, brushing my teeth, driving to the day job, working at the day job, etc., those moments happen a lot.

The second biggest struggle has been trying to plan my next moves after editing and proofreading are completed. Sending it off for copyright (yes, I’m doing the official) and applying for the Library of Congress, having it properly formatted for the formats I need it in, deciding on distribution, writing the dedication and acknowledgments, it all falls on me. And aside from research and advice online, it’s just me trying to make sure it all happens in proper order with little/no mishap.

It’s a tall order, for sure.

Goals for the Coming Week

The response from the editor when I sent her my manuscript/book blurb was that she’d have it back to me by 7/23. My editing ‘vacation’ doesn’t begin until 7/28. Knowing me, I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to contain myself enough to wait. Not to mention, I haven’t worked with the track changes/editing feature in Word in a long time, so maybe starting slow a few days early wouldn’t hurt. We will see.

Note to Self

One, singular step at a time, Baisden. You’re doing just fine.