I had an epiphany earlier this month. I had been anxiously awaiting the proofed edit of Purgus since around Thanksgiving. I knew Thanksgiving was really too soon to hope for, but I still hoped. I had a book signing in my hometown and I would have loved to have had Purgus available to introduce at that time, but I knew it was a longshot. Of course, it wasn't ready, and in all fairness, probably hadn't even really hit my editor's desk until after the holiday weekend. All the same, I was anxious and antsy to see what she thought, and to move forward and share it with the world.
One of the many things I like about my editor is that she takes her time and doesn't push through but lets herself feel the story and get wrapped up in it along the way. She was very happily working along today when I let her know on the 6th that I had set a deadline of December 10th to release Purgus. This, I realized after a couple of email exhanges, was completely news to her. I hijacked her enjoyment of my book by giving her my arbitrary deadline. I regretted it all day. One of the things I love about being self-published is that I work on my time and write when the writing takes me, not when somebody else tells me to get on with it. That is the beauty of being your own boss. That is one of the reasons my editor only works from referrals and doesn't take on projects she doesn't want to take on, so she can work within her own constraints, and I jumped up and gave her a deadline, that I had never mentioned before.
At first I couldn't figure out why I felt so off about giving her my deadline, but it hit me somewhere in the afternoon, and this is the epiphany . . . it took me 25 years to release Intoxic. 25 years. I released it on August 7 of this year, that's four months ago. Four months. Who would ever have thought that 2016 would have two books released with my byline? I didn't, that's for sure. I think I needed to relax about my arbitrary deadline. I need to not feel pressured, and even more, I need not to make other people feel pressured. I need to be grateful that the words and story came as they did. I need to be grateful, and I am, that I have found an editor who fully 'gets' my work and can let herself get wrapped in the words. That's what I want my writing to do.
With that being said, December 10th came and went and along about the 14th, I got my edited Purgus back. My editor and I had gone back and forth with some changes and adjustments and on December 15th, the ides of December and a night with a propitious full moon, I set Purgus out into the world. You can buy it in print and digital through Amazon or request it at your favorite book store. I'm pretty proud of it, and I look forward to hearing from you whether you think Alison has more she needs to share along the way.
Happy Reading. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. This will probably be my last post of 2016, so to everybody who took a chance on an unknown writer, thank you, for making 2016 a year I will never forget. It was, after all, the year that I finally manged to keep my long standing New Year's resolution, to publish.