It’s getting close! March 8, 2010

The anticipation is getting pretty intense!  The official publication date for This hot place is March 15!  In one week.  To say I’m excited is an understatement, at best.  At the Vertigo reading tonight I could not help but demonstrate my excitement by bouncing on my toes and waving my hands and forearms about when a friend asked me how it was going.  I felt like a little kid again!

I have moments like that.  And I have moments when I am scared beyond all belief, moments when I want to go fetal.  I felt like that for two full days after I reread the manuscript.  I wanted to stop the presses.  I wanted to cut everything except the nicey-nice poems, to make it all pretty and inoffensive.

But I got over it.

One step closer…or is it two? February 12, 2010

Oh, this book-publishing adventure is certainly an exciting one! Each week, there’s something new to celebrate! Late last week I got word that I’ll be part of a rural author tour that the Saskatchewan Writers Guild is sponsoring this spring. Along with three other authors, I’ll visit four communities and give two readings in each one. One reading will be in the school and one will be in a public place. I don’t yet know the communities or dates, but I’ll be sure to pass them along when I do.

So, that was part of last week. This week I’ve received the two-page spread of the front and back cover. Of course, I wept! The final pdf galleys were also part of that package so my work is cut out for me this week. I want to be finished my line-by-line proofread before my daughter arrives home for Reading Week.

And late yesterday, I received this, the “tip sheet” I am free to use as I see fit.  I sent it to a few media friends.  And this blog seems a fitting place to use it!

One more thing. I was recently reminded that I did not tell anyone that I am open to giving private readings. In the writing world they call these literary salons.   So, if you would like to invite friends and family to a literary salon in the privacy of your own home, you are more than welcome to do so! I will gladly show up, share some poetry, offer my books for sale and sit down for a visit with you and your guests.

Another step closer! January 9, 2010

This publishing thing has been a very interesting adventure for me.  Every week, it seems, there’s something new, something to get me excited.  The latest was taking a click to the Thistledown Press website where I saw my name and my book title!  And then, when I clicked the link and read the blurb — well, I actually couldn’t read the blurb because (as those of you who know me know well would know) my eyes teared up.  Even when I could read it — and that took several tries — I had a hard time believing it!

And then there’s the cover!  Jackie Forrie has done a marvelous job with it, I think.  I will always love Kim Menzies for the artwork that graces the cover.   Kore is a gorgeous piece, one I fell in love with at first sight and one I am pleased to have the use of for my first book!

This week I’ve been working on final touches to the poems, ensuring spacing is correct and linebreaks allow the line to fit across the width of the page.  Soon and very soon, it will go to print and I will have the galleys in my hands.  I’m certain that will be another time for my eyes to do their thing.  But until then, go well!

Oh, and let me wish everyone a happy new year!