In the book world, life happens in 12-month cycles. We live in the future because we must, not always because we want to. It’s a necessity, this living in the future, driven by the demands of the whole rumbling machine we call publishing.
It’s a fascinating process and I wish more readers could see what I do on a daily basis. If they did, they would appreciate the massive amount of time, talent, money, and dedication required to pluck inspiration from the sky, turn it into a story by tying words and emotions together, and then transform it into something that transports them to another world even as they sit on their couch nursing a cup of tea.
Most people don’t know that it takes a year (or more) to bring a book to market. Well, I mean they know it does, but they don’t really know. It’s like saying we know it takes several years for a good wine to go from a harvest of grapes plucked from a sunny slope to a raised glass as friends sit around a table. Until you stop to consider it, the whole business is easy to pass over without a thought. You don’t really think about the planting, the cultivating, the harvesting, the crushing, and the other bits, because the maker did his job all out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind.
So let me show you my side of the world for a moment. Continue Reading…